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Definition of "tempestuous" []

  • Of, relating to, or resembling a tempest: tempestuous gales. (adjective)
  • Tumultuous; stormy: a tempestuous relationship. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "tempestuous" in a sentence
  • "Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task if in tempestuous seasons they can only tell us that when the storm is past the ocean is flat again."
  • "You spend most of the time with head immersed in tempestuous waters, constantly pulled and kicked by other swimmers, getting fingers jammed in lane lines and heads slammed at the end of the pool during backstroke sets."
  • "All his mighty forces he now brought to bear against the oncoming canoe; he swept great hurricanes about the stony ledges; he caused the sea to beat and swirl in tempestuous fury along its narrow fastnesses; but the canoe came nearer and nearer, invincible as those shores, and stronger than death itself."