ˈthərməˌdȯ(ə)r; ˈthə̄məˌdȯ(ə), ˈthəim-, +V “ or -dȯ(ə)r noun
( -s )
Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: French Thermidor, month of the French revolutionary calendar beginning July 19; from the overthrow of Robespierre which took place in that month in 1794
: a moderate counterrevolutionary stage following an extremist stage of a revolution and usually characterized often through the medium of a dictatorship by an emphasis on the restoration of order, a relaxation of tensions, and some return to patterns of life held to be normal