"tempering" in the noun sense
1. annealing, tempering
hardening something by heat treatment
"tempering" in the verb sense
1. anneal, temper, normalize
bring to a desired consistency, texture, or hardness by a process of gradually heating and cooling
"temper glass"
2. temper, harden
harden by reheating and cooling in oil
"temper steel"
3. temper
adjust the pitch (of pianos)
4. temper, season, mollify, moderate
make more temperate, acceptable, or suitable by adding something else
"she tempered her criticism"
5. chasten, temper
change by restraining or moderating
"tempering" in the adjective sense
1. tempering
moderating by making more temperate
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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