tempestuous

American  

[tem-pes-choo-uhs] / tɛmˈpɛs tʃu əs /

adjective

1. characterized by or subject to tempests.

   the tempestuous ocean.

2. of the nature of or resembling a tempest.

   a tempestuous wind.

   Synonyms:

   stormy, violent

3. tumultuous; turbulent.

   a tempestuous period in history.

---

tempestuous British  

/ tɛmˈpɛstjʊəs /

adjective

1. of or relating to a tempest

2. violent or stormy

   a tempestuous love affair

---

Other Word Forms

• tempestuously adverb
• tempestuousness noun
• untempestuous adjective
• untempestuousness noun

Etymology

Origin of tempestuous

First recorded in 1500–10; from Late Latin tempestuōsus, derivative of tempestus, variant of tempestās tempest ( -ous ); replacing earlier tempeste(u)ous, tempestious ( -eous, -ious )

Example Sentences

If that pattern persists, the second year of his current term could be even more tempestuous than the first.

From The Wall Street Journal

Sellers and Ms. Ekland are not the only tempestuous couple featured.

From The Wall Street Journal

All that positivity, smiling, parades, the unbridled civic joy inspired by a championship…it wears a bit weird, even to the devoted who ride with this tempestuous franchise.

From The Wall Street Journal

But the charged particles hurled into space by our tempestuous Sun - the particles that create the aurora borealis - can also unleash very rare but extremely disruptive events here on Earth.

From BBC

The St. George Reef Lighthouse, six miles off the coast of California’s sparsely populated northwest corner, stands atop a sheer rock surrounded by nothing but the cold, tempestuous Pacific.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• heated
• impassioned
• passionate
• turbulent