tempestuous
UK /tɛmˈpɛs.tjʊ.əs/ · US /tɛmˈpɛs.tʃu.əs/ adjective
Forms tempestous
- adjective Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a tempest; also, of a place: frequently experiencing tempests; (very) stormy.
- adjective (figurative) 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. “After their tempestuous argument, they did not speak to each other for weeks.”
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Late Middle English tempestious, tempestous, tempestuous (“stormy, turbulent, tempestuous”), from Anglo-Norman tempestous, and Old French tempesteus, tempestos, tempestous, tempestuose (modern French tempétueux), and directly from its etymon Latin tempestuōsus (“stormy, turbulent, tempestuous; impetuous”), from tempestās, tempestūs (“point or period of time; season; weather, specifically bad weather; storm, tempest”) (from tempus (“period of time; (rare) weather”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *temh₁- (“to cut”) or *ten- (“to extend, stretch”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; overly; prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). The English word is equivalent to tempest + -uous (a variant of -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting the presence of a quality, typically in abundance)).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Of or pertaining to a tempest; involving or resembling a tempest; turbulent; violent; stormy; as, tempestuous weather; a tempestuous night; a tempestuous debate.
Etymology [L. tempestuous: cf. OF. tempestueux, F. tempêtueux.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tempestuous”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details