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temperament
TEM-pruh-muhnt
- 01Understand
- 02Hear
- 03Distinguish
- 04See it used
- 05Choose how it lands
A person's usual emotional nature and way of reacting.
Another useful meaning: The emotional pattern a person tends to return to.It names the settled emotional pattern someone brings to everything, so you can discuss fit without discussing ability.
A mood is today. Temperament is the setting a person tends to return to once today is over.
work“She is an analyst by training and a negotiator by temperament.”
conversation“Those two argue constantly, and it is temperament rather than any actual disagreement.”
thought“I keep choosing jobs that suit my ambitions and not my temperament.”
You are asked why a capable former colleague struggled in a client facing role.
Meaning held still: Explain the mismatch honestly without damaging their reputation.
“The skills were never in doubt. It was a temperament question, and that job wanted someone who enjoys being interrupted.”
It lands as: Locates the problem in the fit between the person and the role rather than in the person.
Tradeoff: Temperament sounds permanent, so it can quietly close doors you did not mean to close.“He is at his best with a long problem and a closed door. That job was neither.”
It lands as: Describes the conditions rather than the character, which keeps the judgment reversible.
Tradeoff: The generosity reads as evasion to a listener who wanted a straight answer.“Wrong seat, right person. I would hire him again for something else.”
It lands as: Gives a clear verdict and an endorsement in the same breath.
Tradeoff: With no detail attached, the listener fills the gap with their own theory.Watch for: Temperament explains a person, not a pattern. When several people leave the same team, blaming temperament each time hides whatever they had in common.
First met in Three Favours Away. Saving keeps that example with the word.