phlegmatic

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“
He is described as a phlegmatic man of dull and slow mental processes, domestic tastes and of kindly disposition to his children.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. adjective Of or relating to phlegm; phlegmy.
  2. adjective Having or suggesting a calm, sluggish temperament; unemotional.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Axelrod is phlegmatic, Plouffe is chintzy, and neither one wants to waste money on lots of new ads that aren't part of their game plan. —  The RBC
  • Some minds are torpid and phlegmatic, and need to have the imagination stimulated: such would be benefitted by this kind of reading. —  A Treatise on Domestic Economy For the Use of Young Ladies at Home and at School
  • His speech was not phlegmatic, as of old. —  Half Portions
  • He was a large man, broad-shouldered and heavy-muscled; and his face was lazy, phlegmatic, slothful, withal kindly, yet without passion, and quite soulless--a dim soul, unmalicious, unmoral, bovine, and stubborn. —  The Road
  • The scene was solemn and stirring, and only the most phlegmatic were able to conceal their emotions. —  London to Ladysmith via Pretoria
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

stolid ·  apathetic ·  impassive ·  listless ·  unmoved ·  sluggish ·  lethargic ·  placid ·  unemotional ·  imperturbable ·  choleric ·  indolent
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English fleumatik, from Old French fleumatique, from Late Latin phlegmaticus, full of phlegm, from Greek phlegmatikos, from phlegma, phlegmat-, heat, the humor phlegm, from phlegein, to burn; see bhel-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Also flegmatic, and formerly flegmatick (Middle English flewmatik, etc.); from French flegmatique, phlegmatique = Spanish flegmático, flemático = Portuguese phlegmatico, flegmatico, fleumatico = Italian flemmatico, from Late Latin phlegmaticus, from Greek φλεγματικός, like phlegm, pertaining to phlegm, from φλέγμα, phlegm: see phlegm.
 

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/flɛgˈmætɪk/
by American Heritage

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