Literary notes about tepid (AI summary)
The word tepid is employed in literature to convey both a physical and metaphorical sense of lukewarmness. Often, it describes water or baths maintained at a moderately warm temperature, suggesting a condition that is neither hot nor cold—as in directions for a tepid rinse in hygiene or treatment ([1], [2], [3], [4]). At the same time, tepid is used figuratively to symbolize a muted or half-hearted emotional response, whether in the context of personal feelings or public sentiment, as seen when characters experience tepid admiration, indifference, or lackluster success ([5], [6], [7], [8]). This dual application lends the term a versatile quality, making it a useful descriptor for both tangible states and intangible moods in various narratives.
- It should at first be used tepid or cool, but afterwards cold.
— from The Maternal Management of Children, in Health and Disease by Thomas Bull - It may be followed by a draught of tepid water after vomiting commences.
— from Mother, Nurse and Infant A Manual Especially Adapted for the Guidance of Mothers and Monthly Nurses, Comprising Full Instruction in Regard To Pregnancy, Preparation for Child-birth, and the Care of Mother and Child, and Designed to Impart so Much Knowledge of Anatomy, Physiology, Midwifery, and the Proper Use of Medicines as Will Serve Intelligently to Direct the Wife, Mother and Nurse in All Emergencies. by S. P. Sackett - By moderating the force of the shower, and substituting tepid water, the most delicate persons can endure it and profit thereby.
— from - Divested of all clothing, he was standing in the tepid fluid which completely filled a huge basin of white marble.
— from The Sisters — Complete by Georg Ebers - Pity lay in Marian a tepid, quickly roused feeling, blowing neither hot nor cold.
— from The Second Fiddle by Phyllis Bottome - This is not a rose water age, and a tepid, half-hearted speech will not win.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein - He was weary of living in a perpetual tepid honeymoon, without the temperature of passion yet with all its exactions.
— from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton - International Support International support for Iraqi reconstruction has been tepid.
— from The Iraq Study Group Report by Iraq Study Group (U.S.)
