Tempest Meaning
/ˈtɛm.pəst/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA storm, especially one with severe winds.
nounAny violent tumult or commotion.
Sentence Examples
Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are a tempest and hailstorm.
It's a tempest in a teapot.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The sailors prepared for the ____ by securing all ropes and hatches.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The small fishing boat was caught in a violent ____ and had to struggle back to the safety of the harbor today.
Word Origin & History
From Old French tempeste (French tempête), from Latin tempestas (“storm”), from tempus (“time, weather”). Displaced native Old English hrīþ.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand. Brew your Tempeſt well in your Head, before you ſet it a blowing."
— 1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:
"BEAT on, proud billows; Boreas blow; / Swell, curled waves, high as Jove's roof; / Your incivility doth ſhow, / That innocence is tempeſt proof; / Though ſurly Nereus frown, my thoughts are calm; / Then ſtrike, Affliction, for thy wounds are balm. [Attributed to Roger L'Estrange (1616–1704).]"
— 1781, [Mostyn John Armstrong], History and Antiquities of the County of Norfolk. Volume IX. Containing the Hundreds of Smithdon, Taverham, Tunstead, Walsham, and Wayland, volume IX, Norwich: Printed by J. Crouse, for M. Booth, bookseller, →OCLC, page 51:
"As every sailor knows, a spicy gale in the tropic latitudes of the Pacific is far different from a tempest in the howling North Atlantic."
— 1847, Herman Melville, chapter 16, in Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas:
"The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.[…]Roaring, leaping, pouncing, the tempest raged about the wanderers, drowning and blotting out their forms with sandy spume."
— 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:
"Comforted with these reflections, the tempest of his soul subsided"
— 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The sailors prepared for the ____ by securing all ropes and hatches.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The small fishing boat was caught in a violent ____ and had to struggle back to the safety of the harbor today.