tempest

[ tem-pist ]

noun

1. a violent windstorm, especially one with rain, hail, or snow.
2. a violent commotion, disturbance, or tumult.

verb (used with object)

1. to affect by or as by a tempest; disturb violently.

tempest

/ ˈtɛmpɪst /

noun

1. literary.
   a violent wind or storm
2. a violent commotion, uproar, or disturbance

verb

1. poetic.
   tr to agitate or disturb violently

Word History and Origins

Origin of tempest¹

1200–50; Middle English tempeste < Old French < Vulgar Latin *tempesta, for Latin tempestās season, weather, storm, equivalent to tempes- (variant stem of tempus time) + -tās -ty ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of tempest¹

C13: from Old French tempeste, from Latin tempestās storm, from tempus time

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. tempest in a teacup. teacup ( def 3 ).

Example Sentences

Scientists can more granularly study homegrown tempests with storm-chasing aircraft and Earth-orbiting satellites.

From Popular-Science

Her work points at a sort of “cloud greenhouse effect” in which the infrared radiation reflected as the sun warms the Earth gets trapped under nascent storms, which makes stronger tempests build more quickly.

From Popular-Science

It includes old-school observations by unlucky souls who directly observed the tempests as well as remote sensing data from the modern satellite era.

From Science News

Perhaps it wasn’t pairs of electrons that were forming, but tempests of electrons known as skyrmions.

From Quanta Magazine

Now that the 2021 filing season has opened, people should be prepared for a tempest of tax issues, Collins said.

From Washington Post

Much of the nation has been caught up in a tempest that resembled one of the dinner-table scenes in August: Osage County.

From The Daily Beast

Tempest, hurricane, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, or Big Bang?

From The Daily Beast

The first grey pencillings of dawn would raise a tempest which would shake two hemispheres.

From The Daily Beast

Of course, this particular fooforaw may be a tempest in a teapot: OPM may rule that they can offer subsidies to staffers.

From The Daily Beast

But for now at least, most seem to have weathered the initial tempest without incurring too much damage.

From The Daily Beast

In truth, M. de Biancourt's goodness and prudence seemed much shaken by this tempest of human passions.

From Project Gutenberg

What might be of a disturbing nature in the old farmhouse could not, she thought, be as fearsome as the approaching tempest.

From Project Gutenberg

And Isabel dropped her head into her arms and burst into a wild tempest of tears, like a child that has had its first whipping.

From Project Gutenberg

The Republic had proved an utter failure, and France was but a tempest-tossed ocean of anarchy.

From Project Gutenberg

I round the threshold wandering here,Vainly the tempest and the rain invoke,That they may keep my lady prisoner.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cyclone
• furor
• hurricane
• squall
• tornado
• tumult
• upheaval
• uproar
• windstorm