Temperance
Etymology
From Latin temperantia, "moderation, sobriety," from temperare, "to mix in due proportion, to regulate." The root image is blending — tempering hot with cold, strong with weak, until the mixture is balanced. One of the four classical cardinal virtues, it names the balance a person strikes within themselves.
noun · /TEM-pur-uns/
Moderation and self-restraint, especially in appetite, indulgence, and emotion.
What it names
The virtue of governing your own desires — knowing when enough is enough, rather than being ruled by pleasure or impulse.
Example
She practiced a quiet temperance at the feast, enjoying one glass and one slice while others overreached.
Related idea
Abstinence is total refusal — going without entirely. Temperance is the harder middle path: taking part, but never to excess.
noun · /TEM-pur-uns/
Total abstinence from alcoholic drink, or the social movement that promotes it.
What it names
the teetotal cause — the 19th- and early-20th-century campaigns to forgo or ban liquor
Example
Her grandmother signed the temperance pledge and never touched a drop again.
Related idea
This narrowed the broad virtue of moderation to one appetite — drink — much as forbearance names restraint aimed at a single provocation.