tempestuous — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a tempest; also, of a place: frequently experiencing tempests; (very) stormy.

   Synonyms

   bremenimboseprocellous

   Antonyms

   untempestuous

   Examples

   More examples (2)

   I wyl aduertise you that this Boke is named the Shyp of foles of the worlde: For this worlde is nought els but a tempestous se in the whiche we dayly wander and are caste in dyuers tribulacions paynes and aduersitees: some by ignoraunce and some by wilfulnes: wherfore such doers ar worthy to be called foles.

   [A] turbulent and tempeſtuous ſtorme aroſe, that encloſed them on everie ſide, ſo that laying aſide all hope, they vvere in utter deſpaire of their life, ſecuritie, or any helpe at all.

   A tempeſtuous noiſe of Thunder and Lightning heard: Enter a Ship-maſter, and a Boteſvvaine.

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   [T]he Months of March and September, the tvvo Æquinoxes of Our year, are the moſt vvindy and tempeſtuous, the moſt unſettled and unequable of Seaſons in moſt Countries of the VVorld.

   But oft the Sea / Tempeſtuous kept them back, and Southern VVinds / Deter'd them.

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   Huge Uproar lords it vvide. The clouds commixt / VVith ſtars ſvvift-gliding ſvveep along the sky. / All nature reels. Till nature's King, vvho oft / Amid tempeſtuous darkneſs dvvells alone, / And on the vvings of the careering vvind / VValks dreadfully ſerene, commands a calm; […]

   And now, he has got us, or, rather, has got himself and the Honourable House, riding on a stormy and tempestous wave and seated upon a short and narrow Plank; a situation that I really could wish to see nobody in; no, not even (when I recollect what tempestous waves are) the punning Orator himself; […]

   The day was tempestous with rain and with wind, / Even chargers were seen to draw back; […]

   Like all other sea birds, Albatrosses can be most easily enticed into biting during tempestous weather when, having been prevented for days from procuring their regular amount of food, the pangs of hunger overcome their natural distrust.

   Q. The night of this accident was an extremely tempestuous night, was it not? A. Well, it was a kind of a snow storm that night. […] I would regard such a night as a tempestuous night.

   It was a wild, tempestuous night towards the close of November. […] Outside the wind howled down Baker Street, while the rain beat fiercely against the windows. It was strange there in the very depths of the town, with ten miles of man's handiwork on every side of us, to feel the iron grip of Nature, and to be conscious that to the huge elemental forces all London was no more than the molehills that dot the fields.

   We know that the ship departed Hong Kong on January 6, that it arrived in the Port of Tacoma on January 16, a day behind schedule, and that the likely cause for this delay was rough weather. […] [O]n January 10, the Ever Laurel did not fax a weather report to the National Weather Service in Washington, D.C., but the following morning a ship in its vicinity did, describing hurricane-force winds and waves thirty-six feet high. If the Ever Laurel had encountered similarly tempestuous conditions, we can imagine, if only vaguely, what might have transpired: despite its grandeur, rocked by waves as tall as brownstones, the colossal vessel—a floating warehouse weighing 28,904 deadweight tons and powered by a diesel engine the size of a barn—would have rolled and pitched and yawed about like a toy in a Jacuzzi.

2. Characterized by disorderly, frenetic, or violent activity; stormy, tumultuous, turbulent; also, of a person, their behaviour or nature, etc.: characterized by bouts of bad temper or sudden changes of mood; impetuous, stormy, temperamental.

   Usage

   • Figurative

   Antonyms

   untempestuous

   Examples

   After their tempestuous argument, they did not speak to each other for weeks.

   More examples (4)

   Yet I confesse in that tempestious hast [i.e., haste], / I said, that I from out thy sight was cast: / But thou didst heare, when I to thee did moane, / Then love the Lord all ye that feele his grace: […]

   [H]e vvould not ſuffer any farther inquiſition and examination to be had of the conſpirators, for feare leſt by ſtriking a terror among ſo many, the tempeſtuous troubles of the provinces vvhich vvere vvell appeaſed might revive again.

   A Svveet diſorder in the dreſſe / Kindles in cloathes a vvantonneſſe: / […] / A vvinning vvave (deſerving Note) / In the tempeſtuous petticote: / […] Doe more bevvitch me, then vvhen Art / Is too preciſe in every part.

   VVhat various Noiſes do mines^([sic]) ears invade? / And have a Conſort made? / The ſhriller Trumpet, and tempeſtuous Drum: / The deaf'ning clamor from the Canons vvombe; / VVhich through the Air like ſuddain Thunder breaks, / Seems calm to Souldiers ſhouts and VVomens ſhrieks.

   I at night / In vain ſeek Sleep vvith a tempeſtuous VVife. / VVink at my ſhame, that I, vvhoſe Banners brave / The vvorld, ſhould thus to Beauty be a Slave.

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   Preſerve then, my friend, a firm and vigorous frame of mind: and if you bore the dark and tempeſtuous ſeaſon of your affairs vvith fortitude, let their preſent more ſerene and favorable aſpect fill your heart vvith chearfulneſs.

   Cecilia vvas ſtill in this tempeſtuous ſtate, vvhen a meſſage vvas brought her that a gentleman vvas belovv ſtairs, vvho begged to have the honour of ſeeing her.

   [T]he brightest part of [Jonathan] Swift's story, the pure star in that dark and tempestuous life of Swift's, is his love for Hester Johnson [i.e., Esther Johnson].

   Sing, mix the wind with clamour, smite and shake / Sonorous timbrels and tumultuous hair, / And fill the dance up with tempestuous feet, […]

   Tempestuous breaths! we watch a girl / walking in her garden—no flowers, a wintry shrub / and the cold clouds passing over. […] and through the cloth against her flesh / she feels the flashes of our heat.

   There were many stories circulating about Dancer [a horse], some fact, some fiction. Gossip about money offered for him and turned down. Rumors about his tempestuous disposition. Stories about people who'd tried to ride him and got hurt. Abby hoped that she wouldn't be another of those. If the fall didn't crush her, the disappointment would.

   The White House posted a cartoon to X on Wednesday of two Greenlandic mush teams with three huskies each, pointing towards the choice of the white pillars and the South Lawn or a tempestuous scene by the Great Wall of China and Red Square in Russia.

Adjective

1. characterized by violent emotions or behavior

   Synonyms

   stormy

   Examples

   a stormy argument

   a stormy marriage

2. (of the elements) as if showing violent anger

   Synonyms

   angryfuriousragingwild

   Examples

   angry clouds on the horizon

   furious winds

   More examples (1)

   the raging sea