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.

Example Sentences

When he finally turned south, however, he met what may have been the fiercest tempest on Lake Superior in more than 60 years.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

For those not chronically online, however, this past week’s tempest over Wikipedia can be jolting—especially given the site’s objective to remain trustworthy.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Amid the film’s self-conscious depiction of a brewing tempest, he remains a true force of nature.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

They have looked on the tempests of war, economic turmoil, civil unrest and seesawing politics and remained, as Shakespeare said, an ever-fixed mark, adapting to atmospheric shifts but essentially unchanged.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The president, it seems, is willing to wait out the tempest created by his tariff plan.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

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