Tempest
nounA violent windstorm, often with heavy rain, hail, or snow.
How to spell tempest
7 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce tempest
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does tempest mean?
- nounA violent windstorm, often with heavy rain, hail, or snow.
- nounA violent outburst of emotion, conflict, or commotion.
Tempest in a sentence
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The ferry crossing was cancelled when a sudden tempest swept in from the sea.
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The leaked memo set off a political tempest that lasted for weeks.
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Fallen trees blocked the road after the overnight tempest.
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Her resignation caused a tempest of speculation across the office.
Where does tempest come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word descends from the Latin tempestas, which originally meant a stretch of time or a season, and only later came to mean the weather of a given moment and then specifically bad weather. That noun was built on tempus, meaning 'time', the same root that gives English 'temporary' and 'temporal'. The sense narrowed from 'a period of time' to 'a violent storm' because Romans often spoke of weather as the condition of a particular season or moment. English borrowed it through Old French tempeste during the 1200s, keeping the storm meaning. The link back to tempus, 'time', helps explain the spelling: the middle vowel is the easily slurred bit, but remembering the 'temp-' of 'temporary' keeps it on track.
How the word is built
- tempes- (from Latin tempus: time, season, hence weather)
- -t (forming the noun)
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