tempestuous
/tɛmˈpɛs.tʃu.əs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.49 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a tempest; also, of a place: frequently experiencing tempests; (very) stormy.
adj
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.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "[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."
- "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; […]"
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)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Prefix: tempest
- Root: *temh₁-, tempestious, tempestous, tempesteus, tempestuōsus
- Suffix: -uous
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /tɛmˈpɛs.tʃu.əs/
- British English: /tɛmˈpɛs.tjʊ.əs/