phlegmatic

adjective

phleg·mat·ic fleg-ˈma-tik

: resembling, consisting of, or producing the humor phlegm

: having or showing a slow and stolid temperament

phlegmatically

fleg-ˈma-ti-k(ə-)lē

adverb

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Phlegm and the Four Temperaments

According to the ancient Greeks, human personalities were controlled by four bodily fluids or semifluids called humors: blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm. Each humor was associated with one of the four basic elements: air, earth, fire, and water. Phlegm was paired with water—the cold, moist element—and it was believed to impart the cool, calm, unemotional personality we now call the "phlegmatic type." That's a bit odd, given that the term derives from the Greek phlegma, which literally means "flame," perhaps a reflection of the inflammation that colds and flus often bring.

Choose the Right Synonym for phlegmatic

impassive, stoic, phlegmatic, apathetic, stolid mean unresponsive to something that might normally excite interest or emotion.

impassive stresses the absence of any external sign of emotion in action or facial expression.

met the news with an impassive look

stoic implies an apparent indifference to pleasure or especially to pain often as a matter of principle or self-discipline.

was resolutely stoic even in adversity

phlegmatic implies a temperament or constitution hard to arouse.

a phlegmatic man unmoved by tears

apathetic may imply a puzzling or deplorable indifference or inertness.

charitable appeals met an apathetic response

stolid implies a habitual absence of interest, responsiveness, or curiosity.

stolid workers wedded to routine

Example Sentences

Some people are phlegmatic, some highly strung. Some are anxious, others risk-seeking. Some are confident, others shy. Some are quiet, others loquacious. We call these differences personality …

Matt Ridley, Genome, 1999 Why would a man live like this? Alone on the godforsaken prairie surrounded by whispering cornfields and phlegmatic Swedes if instead you could go to picture shows and snazzy restaurants and dance with a beautiful woman with her head on your shoulder and her perfume driving you wild?

Garrison Keillor, WLT: A Radio Romance, 1991 But Einstein was phlegmatic: when a book was published entitled 100 Authors Against Einstein, he retorted, "If I were wrong, then one would have been enough!"

Stephen W. Hawking, A Brief History of Time, 1988 a strangely phlegmatic response to what should have been happy news

Recent Examples on the Web Right now, there might be no sprinter alive more talented than Erriyon Knighton, the phlegmatic teenager from Tampa, Florida, who over the course of the past year has broken Bolt’s under-18 and under-20 world records in the 200-meters.

Martin Fritz Huber, Outside Online, 11 Aug. 2022 When a cardiologist prescribes swimming five days a week, the phlegmatic Birbiglia argues that such a regimen would overwhelm even Michael Phelps.

Los Angeles Times, 8 Aug. 2022 The interview – as well as Stahl's globetrotting investigation to find Marcel's family – are shown at length in the film, and will surely delight anyone who's familiar with her phlegmatic delivery and meticulous reporting.

Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 27 June 2022 One of Banky’s first public murals to receive widespread attention portrayed a phlegmatic Teddy bear throwing a Molotov cocktail at riot police.

oregonlive, 4 Apr. 2022 Such audacities were otherwise quashed in Holbein’s supervening duties to phlegmatic patrons.

Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2022 While Putin saw these events as cataclysmic, Merkel already seemed to have the strangely phlegmatic attitude toward grand ideas of history that would characterize her sixteen-year reign as chancellor of the united Germany.

Fintan O’toole, The New York Review of Books, 18 Oct. 2021 Neither hyperactive grandstanding in Paris nor phlegmatic passivity from Berlin has prevented the emergence of a common Western position.

Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, 21 Feb. 2022 The Diamondbacks’ approach heading into the 2021 season was decidedly phlegmatic.

Tony Blengino, Forbes, 12 Nov. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'phlegmatic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.