Phlegmatic Meaning and Usage

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Phlegmatic Meaning:

adjective

- relating to phlegm
- having a calm, sluggish temperament
- unemotional
- not easily excited to action or display of emotion; apathetic

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Derivatives:

phlegmatical - adjective
phlegmatically – adverb

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Use phlegmatic in a sentence:

1. The playwright had hoped his story would take theatergoers on an emotional roller coaster, but on opening night they just sat there, stone-faced and phlegmatic.

2. He was phlegmatic as a child; rarely went outside to play.

3. The taxi driver, a phlegmatic man in middle age, showed no surprise at this request.

4. The phlegmatic boy was not even excited about the Halloween party invite he had received.

5. You actually sound quite phlegmatic about your own learning.

6. Even the normally phlegmatic John was grinning like a maniac.

7. He is a phlegmatic coach at courtside, but in the locker room he fires up his players, inspiring them to win.

8. The normally phlegmatic Alain was nearly crying in his excitement and dismay.

9. No sign of excitement came on Alex’s phlegmatic face.

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Phlegmatic Synonyms:
apathetic, calm, cold, collected, composed, controlled, cool, detached, dull, equanimous, frigid, heavy, impassive, imperturbable, inactive, incurious, indifferent, indolent, insensitive, lethargic, listless, lymphatic, moderate, passive, philosophical, placid, quiet, restrained, serene, sluggish, stoic, stoical, stolid, temperate, torpid, tranquil, unaffected, unanimated, uncaring, unconcerned, undemonstrative, undisturbed, unemotional, unenthusiastic, unfeeling, uninterested, uninvolved, unmoved, unperturbed, unresponsive, unruffled.

Phlegmatic Antonyms:
Emotional, effusive, vivacious, Passionate

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Some more examples:

1. Wilson is far too phlegmatic to be stirred by the fervor of the revolutionaries.

2. One has to learn to be phlegmatic about things going wrong at the office.

3. The housekeeper and her husband were both of that decent phlegmatic order of people, to whom one may at any time safely communicate a remarkable piece of news without incurring the danger of having one’s ears pierced by some shrill cry, and subsequently stunned by a torrent of wordy wonderment.

4. Daniel was phlegmatic in the way of a man who accepts all things, and accepts them in the spirit of cool bravery, with hazard of all he has at stake.
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