tempering

verb

present participle of temper
1
as in annealing

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2
as in softening

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Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for tempering
  1. annealing
  2. softening
  3. hardening
  4. moderating
  5. toughening
  6. lightening
  7. mitigating
  8. alleviating
Verb
  • The telecom giant plans to use D-Wave’s quantum annealing technology to tackle complex optimization problems across its network operations.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 27 July 2026
  • Over the next five years, real value will come from applying quantum principles, such as annealing and probabilistic optimization, to supply chains, finance and logistics before fault-tolerant quantum arrives.
    — Pravir Malik, Forbes.com, 12 Feb. 2026
Definition of annealing
Verb
  • That’s because the scent leads with a masculine-leaning opening of almond blossom, pink pepper, and neroli, before softening to its woody vanilla base.
    — Ariel Wodarcyk, InStyle, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Nike had been using Bugs Bunny in a series of commercials starring Michael Jordan as a means of softening the basketball legend’s intense on-court image and marketing his Air Jordans to families.
    — Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of softening
Verb
  • OpenAI halted some of its AI model training and is hardening its testing, monitoring and training protocols following the incident.
    — Hadas Gold, CNN Money, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Mohsen Rezaei was named this month as part of senior appointments widely seen as hardening Tehran’s political and military stance.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of hardening
Verb
  • The lift in bond yields isn’t having much effect in moderating the pace of capital-raising and corporate investment.
    — Michael Santoli, CNBC, 24 Aug. 2026
  • His interest in moderating panels was sparked a couple of years ago by another panelist and the encouragement of his friends.
    — Regina Elling, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of moderating
Verb
  • Greece’s conservative government has been toughening its migration policies.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 23 Aug. 2026
  • The tender side of Strout is her hopefulness—and that may be toughening up.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 7 May 2026
Definition of toughening
Verb
  • When temperatures exceed 110°F, passenger planes must consider lightening their loads.
    — John Vaillant, Time, 8 Aug. 2026
  • See what the experts had to say about lightening your hair without bleach below.
    — Audrey Noble, Vogue, 28 July 2026
Definition of lightening
Verb
  • The health care company could develop Keytuda co-formulations that would extend the tail of the brand-name drug's franchise, mitigating the impact of that patent expiration, according to the analyst.
    — Liz Napolitano, CNBC, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Later this year, eSafety will release a transparency report detailing how successful online gaming services like Roblox have been at mitigating harms to kids.
    — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of mitigating
Verb
  • Europe’s efforts are for now too modest, too regulated, too fragmented, and too focused on alleviating government restrictions rather than promoting commercial use to fundamentally change dependencies that have accumulated over decades.
    — Kurt M. Campbell, Foreign Affairs, 18 Aug. 2026
  • In 2021, in hopes of alleviating economic pressures during the pandemic, Congress passed legislation eliminating premiums for people with the lowest incomes and reduced the cost for people with higher incomes.
    — Robert Applebaum, The Conversation, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of alleviating
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Tempering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tempering. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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