Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not temperate or moderate, especially in rhetoric or tone; unrestrained: synonym: excessive.
  • adjective Given to excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Immoderate in conduct or action; not exercising or characterized by proper moderation: as, intemperate in labor or in zeal; intemperate in study.
  • In a restricted sense, immoderate in the use of intoxicating drink; given to excessive drinking.
  • Immoderate in measure or degree; excessive; inordinate; violent: as, intemperate language; intemperate actions; an intemperate climate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Indulging any appetite or passion to excess; immoderate in enjoyment or exertion.
  • adjective addicted to an excessive or habitual use of alcoholic liquors.
  • adjective Excessive; ungovernable; inordinate; violent; immoderate.
  • transitive verb obsolete To disorder.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Lacking moderation, temper or control
  • verb obsolete, transitive To disorder.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective excessive in behavior
  • adjective given to excessive indulgence of bodily appetites especially for intoxicating liquors
  • adjective (of weather or climate) not mild; subject to extremes

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

in- +‎ temperate

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Examples

  • As such it takes us back to the days when Cameron was denouncing anyone who backed Grammar Schools in intemperate terms or rejecting any contrary position as ‘pointless’ or deluded or whatever.

    Tories: Burn Your Bras! 2008

  • As such it takes us back to the days when Cameron was denouncing anyone who backed Grammar Schools in intemperate terms or rejecting any contrary position as ‘pointless’ or deluded or whatever.

    Archive 2008-03-02 2008

  • People called him on it (some perhaps in intemperate ways, others not, but they were right and he was mistaken).

    The Volokh Conspiracy » More on Slate, movie stars, and left-wing dictators: 2004

  • Unfortunately, Hailey himself ended up engaging in intemperate attacks on Wizbang’s site.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Columbia Journalism Review on CBS and the forged documents. 2005

  • They figure if they can make Sonia Sotomayor appear "too liberal," "too activist," or "intemperate" -- and cause Obama to withdraw her nomination, or if they can defeat her outright -- they can slow the Obamomentum that's leading to universal health care, cap-and-trade, more spending on education, and higher taxes on the rich.

    Archive 2009-05-01 Robert Reich 2009

  • They figure if they can make Sonia Sotomayor appear "too liberal," "too activist," or "intemperate" -- and cause Obama to withdraw her nomination, or if they can defeat her outright -- they can slow the Obamomentum that's leading to universal health care, cap-and-trade, more spending on education, and higher taxes on the rich.

    Sotomayor and the Republicans Robert Reich 2009

  • The intemperate are the persons to whom these expostulations should be addressed.

    Select Temperance Tracts American Tract Society

  • In like manner neither can it be called intemperate: and in this respect there is dissimilarity between justice and the other moral virtues; but as regards the proportion between operation and habit, there is similarity in all respects.

    Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province Aquinas Thomas

  • At no period of life was I ever what men call intemperate; I never was in the habit of intoxication [the italics are Poe's]; I never drank drams, et cetera; but for a brief period, while I resided in Richmond and edited the Messenger, I certainly did give way, at long intervals, to the temptation held out on all sides to the spirit of Southern conviviality.

    Edgar Allan Poe -- After Fifty Years 1899

  • It should be noted -- and the distinction is of importance -- that the affections of a grave character most frequently produced by the alcoholic habit do not ensue as a consequence of what could be rightly called intemperate taking of the drug, -- its moderate use more commonly resulting in serious disease than when it is taken in great excess.

    Health on the Farm A Manual of Rural Sanitation and Hygiene 1896

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