The term that completes the sentence is "temperature." The temperature of an object is a measurement of how hot or cold it is, measured in degrees Celsius. Temperature quantifies the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or object and is commonly measured by thermometers using scales such as Celsius or Fahrenheit. The Celsius scale is defined with 0 degrees as the freezing point of water and 100 degrees as the boiling point at standard atmospheric pressure. Temperature reflects the average energy of molecular motion within the object, indicating its thermal state.