Temperature Embodies More Than Heat and Cold

Applied effectively in prose or poetry, heat or lack of it can express subtleties of emotion, hence terms such as hot-tempered and cold-hearted.

Ambient temperature affects sleep patterns, productivity, and emotions.

Excessive heat irritates tempers. Your characters might quarrel without realizing they’re responding to the environment. Or your protagonists could blame their bad mood, blushing, or sweating on temperature while hiding the true reasons for their behavior.

Cold surroundings can draw people together to share body heat. Men have exploited this fact for centuries to entice women into their arms.

Temperature may indicate good or ill health, pleasant or unpleasant weather, good or bad omens.

People expect certain types of food, such as soup, to be hot. Serve a guest cold gazpacho, and you might expect a surprised reaction.

Hot liquids stain more readily than their cold counterparts. Story fodder? Perhaps your protagonist deliberately spills hot coffee into someone’s lap to spur the removal of pants or skirt?

Young women who are not ready to get pregnant sometimes have their eggs frozen in order to bear children later in life. What would happen if one of these women met a sperm donor at a reproduction clinic and they started dating?

Although today’s technology can’t reanimate corpses, some people choose to have their bodies vitrified and cryogenically preserved after death in hopes that future scientists will be able to revive them.

A chase through the hot desert will require different props and plotlines than a similar event at the South Pole.

Heat sterilizes objects and food. Freezing doesn’t. That’s why frozen corpses of animals and humans can endanger modern generations: They harbor microorganisms that could be dangerous to a non-immune population.

Someone trying to save money might turn the heat down in the winter; likewise with air conditioning during summer months. This could cause complications with health, pets, and houseplants.

Incinerators burn confidential documents. “Oops! I swear, boss, Findlay tripped when he was disposing of the top-secret files. The burns on my hands? I … uh … tried to rescue him. Yeah, that’s it. I tried to rescue him.”

Story Prompts Ahead

Some of the preceding paragraphs may have given you ideas for stories or plot twists. Please enjoy a few more.

1. A patient’s temperature reads several degrees lower than usual.
2. Wife repeatedly turns the heat down. Husband turns it back up.
3. Thirteen months of stifling summer weather stumps scientists.
4. Bears decide to hibernate three months early.
5. A three-acre patch of ice forms in the Bay of Bengal.
6. A pendant grows warm whenever anyone nearby tells a lie.
7. A talking refrigerator develops a personality.

The following lists contain more than 400 words that will help you include temperature in your writing.

Hot Adjectives

A to F
ablaze, afire, aflame, Africa-hot, baking, blazing, blistering, boiling, branding, broiling, burning, charring, extreme, febrile, fevered, feverish, feverous, fiery, flaming

H to R
hyper-heated, hyper-hot, hyperthermic, intense, melting, molten, muggy, oppressive, overheated, parching, piping, poker-hot, roasting

S to W
scalding, scorching, searing, shriveling, singeing, sizzling, smoking, smoldering, steaming, stifling, sultry, sweaty, sweltering, torrid, tropical, withering

Hot Nouns

A to E
ash, asphalt, barbecue, blast furnace, blaze, bonfire, coffee, conflagration, cooking oil, desert, dragon’s breath, ember, exhaust pipe, exploding meteor

F to I
fever, fire, firecracker, fireplace, fireworks, French fries, frying pan, furnace, geyser, glue gun, Hades, Hell, incalescence, infected wound, inferno, incinerator, iron

K to R
kiln, magma, mineral spring, molten lava, molten metal, pavement, radiator, rocket exhaust

S to W
sidewalk, solar flare, soldering iron, soup, stage lights, steam bath, stove burner, summer sun, tin roof, volcano, wok

Hot Verbs

A to C
arc, autoclave, bake, barbecue, blaze, blister, boil, braise, brand, broil, brown, bubble, burn, burst into flames, carbonize, catch fire, cauterize, char, commit arson, cook, cremate

D to I
deep-fry, defrost, detonate, disinfect, explode, fan the flames, fire, flame, flare, flash, fry, fuel, glow, go off, go up in flames, grill, heat, ignite, immolate, incinerate

K to R
kindle, light, liquefy, melt, microwave, nuke, overcook, overheat, pan-fry, parboil, perspire, poach, reduce to ashes, refry, reheat, rewarm, roast

S
sanitize, sauté, scald, scorch, scramble, sear, set a match to, set alight, simmer, singe, smolder, solder, spark, steam, steam-clean, sterilize, stew, stir-fry, strike a match, sweat, swelter

T to Z
thaw, toast, torch, warm, zap

Warm Adjectives

A to P
agreeable, balmy, blood-warm, clement, comfortable, comfy, cozy, enjoyable, fair, fine, homey, lukewarm, mellow, mild, moderate, pleasant

R to W
restful, room-temperature, slightly warm, snug, summery, temperate, tepid, toasty, warm, warmish

Warm Nouns

B to F
baby toes, baby’s laugh, bathwater, breath, clothes from the dryer, cow manure, dog/cat vomit, dog/cat doo-doo, ear muffs, flannel, freshly baked bread/buns, freshly laid egg

G to M
gloves, groin, handshake, hand warmers, happy book/movie, just-vacated seat, kiss, kitten, lover’s body/smile, memory foam, milk before bed, mitts, mother’s smile

P to W
parka, puppy, rope/rug burn, sunshine, sweater, welcome, wool socks

Warm Verbs

Empty list. If something is cold, you require a hot verb to warm it; if it’s hot, you need a cold verb to bring it to a warm state.

Cold Adjectives

A to C
algid, Antarctic, Arctic, austere, benumbed, biting, bitter, bitterly cold, bleak, bone-chilling, bracing, brisk, brumal, chilly, congealed, cool, crisp, cryogenic

D to H
desolate, drafty, dreary, exhilarating, extreme, freezing, fresh, frigid, frigorific, frore, frosty, frozen, gelid, glacial, harsh, hibernal, hiemal, hoary, hypothermic

I to P
icebound, icebox, ice-capped, ice-cold, ice-kissed, icicled, icy-cold, icy, intense, invigorating, keen, nippy, numbed, numbing, penetrating, piercing, polar

R to W
raw, refrigerated, rimy, severe, sharp, shivery, sleety, Siberian, snappy, snowy, stimulating, stinging, subzero, wintry

Cold Nouns

B to G
banana split, blizzard, brain freeze, dark side of the moon, deep sea, dry ice, ex’s heart/scorn, father’s criticism, freezer, frozen fish, Fudgesicle, glacier

H to P
hoarfrost, iceberg, ice chest, ice-cream cone, ice cube, igloo, liquid nitrogen, milk shake, North Pole, penguin, Plutonian crater/mountain, polar bear, popsicle

S to W
sherbet, skating rink, ski hill, sled dog, snow angel, snowbank, snowflake, snowman, South Pole, winter, witch’s toe

Cold Verbs

A to H
air-condition, bite, chill, congeal, cool, crystalize, deep-freeze, flash-freeze, freeze, frost, gel, glaciate, harden

I to P
ice, ice over, ice up, infrigidate, jell, keep cold, lose heat, lower the temperature, preserve, put on ice

R to V
refrigerate, rime, set, solidify, sting, turn to ice, vitrify

Other Adjectives

A to C
abnormal, above-zero, absolute, adiabatic, air, ambient, annual, atmospheric, average, axillary (armpit), basal, below-zero, body, calescent, Celsius, critical

D to I
daily, daytime, decalescent, diurnal, elevated, environmental, external, extreme, Fahrenheit, favorable, fixed, global, high, ideal, indoor, inside, internal

L to P
low, maximum, mean, metabolic, minimum, minus, moderate, monthly, ocean, optimum, oral (mouth), outdoor, outside, oven, overall, peak, plus, preferred

R to S
raised, recalescent, recommended, recorded, rectal, reduced, regulated, relative, requisite, room, seasonal, soil, stable, standard, static, subnormal, substrate, surface

T to Y
temporal (forehead), thermodynamic, thermogenic, tympanic (ear), underground, uniform, volatile, water, yearly

Other Nouns

H to T
homeostasis, lyophilization, thermocline, thermocouple, thermogram, thermometer, thermoreceptor, thermoregulator, thermos, thermostat