lukewarm

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌlukˈwɔrm/ UK /ˌluːkˈwɔːm/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
only moderately warm; lacking enthusiasm

The proposal got a lukewarm reception from the board.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · only moderately warm;... tepid unenthusiastic indifferent apathetic halfhearted cool

Opposites

hot enthusiastic ardent fervent keen

Word family

Forms lukewarmly

Derived forms lukewarmlylukewarmness

Etymology

From Middle English lukewarm, from luke, lewk ('tepid') + warm. Luke is from dialectal lew ('tepid'), from Old English hleow ('warm, sheltered').

hleow Old English wearm Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# lukewarm

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˌlukˈwɔrm/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌluːkˈwɔːm/

## Meanings
1. only moderately warm; lacking enthusiasm

## Examples
- The proposal got a lukewarm reception from the board.

## Synonyms
- tepid
- unenthusiastic
- indifferent
- apathetic
- halfhearted
- cool

## Antonyms
- hot
- enthusiastic
- ardent
- fervent
- keen

## Derived Forms
- lukewarmly
- lukewarmness

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hleow
- Root: wearm

## Etymology
From Middle English lukewarm, from luke, lewk ('tepid') + warm. Luke is from dialectal lew ('tepid'), from Old English hleow ('warm, sheltered').

## AI Etymology
Lukewarm comes from Middle English lukewarm, from luke, lewk ('tepid') + warm. Luke is from dialectal lew ('tepid'), from Old English hleow ('warm, sheltered'). The etymological trail includes Old English hleow, Old English wearm. The same word family includes lukewarmly, lukewarmness. Its current adjective use means "only moderately warm; lacking enthusiasm".

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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