stormy
Americanadjective
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affected, characterized by, or subject to storms; tempestuous.
a stormy sea.
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characterized by violent commotion, actions, speech, passions, etc..
a stormy debate.
adjective
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characterized by storms
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subject to, involving, or characterized by violent disturbance or emotional outburst
Usage
What does stormy mean? Stormy literally describes weather that has resulted in storms or that indicates that storms are coming—especially conditions like dark clouds, strong winds, thunder, lightning, and rain. It is often used in the phrase stormy weather. It can also be used to describe a place that frequently has storms. Stormy can also be used in a figurative way to describe a situation that’s full of conflict and commotion, as in Things got a bit stormy at the council meeting when members started making accusations against each other. Example: Expect stormy skies on your commute this morning—it looks like we’ll get some intense rainstorms starting around 9 o’clock.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of stormy
1150–1200; Middle English; Old English stormig. See storm, -y 1
Explanation
Whether it’s your temper or the month of May, something characterized by turmoil and unpredictable outbursts can be called stormy. The word stormy describes weather conditions like thunder, lightning, dark clouds, wind, and pelting rain. The word also can be applied more broadly to describe things that seem as volatile and unpredictable as the weather, like a stormy debate that can get loud and angry, or a stormy relationship that is characterized by frequent outbursts of emotion, like a downpour of feelings.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Hoyte van Hoytema’s Imax-framed cinematography is assertive and present, rocking with the stormy waves and peering into the torch-lit darkness where the color palette is as starkly orange and black as an ancient Greek urn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Listening to Xiu Xiu’s “Eraserhead” on a hot and stormy Friday afternoon is an atavistic summoning of the many gifts that David Lynch left us to remember him by.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
In the race to figure out AI’s likely impact on our jobs and our way of life, prophets everywhere are sharing a stormy mix of hopes and fears.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
"On Friday, a gradual drop in temperatures along the Atlantic coast is beginning to take shape following Thursday evening's stormy conditions," the agency added.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
Safe enough to sink into a strange dream where I'm bobbing up and down in a stormy ocean that carries me far away from Amma.
From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman
In this and other ways I am agreeably disposed to this stronger and stormier Tiguan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
With hotter, drier summers and wetter, stormier winters, Britain's climate is shifting and the impact is being felt not only in cities, but across the natural world, where species are struggling to adapt.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2025
“We can’t say for sure it’s definitely stormier but, what we can say, is the storms we are having in northwest Europe are getting more severe,” says Bricheno.
From National Geographic ● Dec. 15, 2023
For California, that could mean wetter, stormier conditions, but in the northwest, the result may be a warmer and drier winter.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 1, 2023
And in addition to classes, in weather that grew colder and stormier every day, the pilots were given flight tests to decide which aircraft they’d be best suited for.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
Macquarie Island is only a tiny piece of land surrounded by the world's stormiest ocean.
From Science Daily ● May 14, 2026
Jean and Hill’s relationship, both creative and romantic, had become one of the stormiest in hip-hop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026
That is because the winter of 2013/14 was the wettest on record and was considered to be the stormiest period for two decades.
From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2024
Despite all this, Bricheno notes that the North Sea is far from the stormiest body of water in the world.
From National Geographic ● Dec. 15, 2023
Those girls were blessed with the ability to sleep through the stormiest of sidewinders.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
