Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of or relating to phlegm; phlegmy.
- adj. Having or suggesting a calm, sluggish temperament; unemotional.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of the nature of phlegm; watery; aqueous: as, phlegmatic humors.
- Generating or causing phlegm.
- Abounding in phlegm; lymphatic; hence, cold; dull; sluggish; heavy; not easily excited to action or passion; apathetic; cool and self-restrained: as, a phlegmatic temperament. See temperament.
- Synonyms Frigid, impassive, unsusceptible. See apathy.
Wiktionary
- adj. Not easily excited to action or passion; calm; sluggish.
- adj. Abounding in phlegm; as, phlegmatic humors; a phlegmatic constitution.
- adj. Generating, causing, or full of phlegm.
- adj. Watery.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Watery.
- adj. Abounding in phlegm
- adj. Generating or causing phlegm.
- adj. Not easily excited to action or passion; cold; dull; sluggish; heavy.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. showing little emotion
Etymologies
- 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.
Examples
“He recalled the phlegmatic doctor, he recalled how he had grinned, that is, wrinkled up his nose when he saw him coming out of the wood almost arm-inarm with Baron Dönhof.”
“His temperament exhibited all the varieties known to science: in the morning, before drinking, he was melancholy; in the middle of the day, choleric; and in the evening, phlegmatic, that is to say, he did nothing at that time but snore and grunt till he was put to bed.”
“English, in our passion for daily excitement, might call her phlegmatic, but we should call her so unjustly.”
“One of the psychologists in Solar Defence had termed Hunter phlegmatic, which is to say lazy and sluggish.”
Secret Mission Moluk
“He recalled the phlegmatic doctor, he recalled how he had grinned, that is, wrinkled up his nose when he saw him coming out of the wood almost arm-in-arm with Baron Dönhof.”
“If we cast a glance at the variety to be observed in the human character in respect to feeling, we find, first, some people who have very little excitability, who are called phlegmatic or indolent.”
“Phlegmatic: The phlegmatic is the hardest to pinpoint because she's the queen of blending in.”
“The present Pakistani government is holding on by its fingernails and its response to the earthquake will probably be phlegmatic, which is, unfortunately, probably as much as it can manage.”
“Medical and popular opinion accused plants that grew underground of causing "phlegmatic" diseases, which ran the gamut from leprosy to hemorrhoids.”
“As an aside, "phlegmatic" was often used in 19th century discourse as a nice way to say "lazy.”
"Beyond dirty campaigning... to something truly dishonorable."
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘phlegmatic’.
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G[r]eek
A collection of words found in English that are either purely Greek or have Greek etymology.
Please add with caution and certainty. Will be regularly updated by me.etymology, philosophy, laconic, disharmony, patriarchic, archaic, phlogiston, aether, aeon, angel, arachnid, rhythm and 322 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 1128 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 414 more...
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pseudoscience
craniology, craniometer, cranioscopy, phlegmatic, sanguine, melancholic, choleric, homeopathy, allopathy, metoposcopy, panacea, catholicon and 17 more...
tchaymore I never really thought of "sluggish" as a synonym or part of the definition for phlegmatic. Maybe because, for whatever reason, phlegmatic has a positive association for me. I tend to think of Ron Swanson when I hear "phlegmatic." Mar 6, 2012
kingparton Superficially he's a phlegmatic type, slouching round in old clothes, staring vacantly at the stars or at nothing at all, sitting in the center of a circle of students and scratching his head and grinning.
Oscar James Campbell, Patterns for Living Dec 14, 2011
jorge999 not stick shift
not automatic
my transmission
is phlegmatic Nov 7, 2009
mkb One of the four humors.
May 8, 2008
reesetee Ohhhhh. I get it. Heehee. Oct 18, 2007
chained_bear It's how I make stupid jokes, and then make clear that it's a stupid joke. Ahuh! Huhhuh!
(see? You probably didn't know that was a laugh, did you? Yet I spelled it phonetically. What's a poor chained_bear to do?) Oct 17, 2007
reesetee Why the sudden penchant for weak upper-class-twit laugh? :-) Oct 17, 2007
chained_bear I used this word in a conversation today. Yay me! (It was in reference to a colleague from England. Ahuh! Huhhuh! < -- weak upper-class-twit laugh.) Oct 17, 2007