1
as in storm
a disturbance of the atmosphere accompanied by wind and often by precipitation (as rain or snow)
the sudden summertime tempest drove us off the golf course and into the clubhouse
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in upheaval
a violent disturbance (as of the political or social order)
the town council handled the tempest over cuts to the school budget as well as could be expected
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tempest
This gripping page-turner — featuring a decades-old murder, a writer in town to tell the real story and an oncoming tempest — feels like it was ripped from the juiciest headlines.
—
Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 11 Jan. 2026
While the idea of a one-time tax on more than 200 people has a long way to go before getting onto the ballot and would need to be passed by voters in November, the tempest around it captures the zeitgeist of angst and anger at the core of California.
—Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 2 Jan. 2026
This wild tempest of a tale set in Depression-era Nebraska follows a prairie witch and a high school girl swept up into a tumultuous western epic about the tragedies and ambitions of Manifest Destiny.
—Ron Charles, CBS News, 28 Dec. 2025
Yet What Lane Will (Actually) Do is almost secondary to the tempest he’s created to get here.
—Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 28 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tempest
Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 11 Jan. 2026
While the idea of a one-time tax on more than 200 people has a long way to go before getting onto the ballot and would need to be passed by voters in November, the tempest around it captures the zeitgeist of angst and anger at the core of California.
—Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 2 Jan. 2026
This wild tempest of a tale set in Depression-era Nebraska follows a prairie witch and a high school girl swept up into a tumultuous western epic about the tragedies and ambitions of Manifest Destiny.
—Ron Charles, CBS News, 28 Dec. 2025
Yet What Lane Will (Actually) Do is almost secondary to the tempest he’s created to get here.
—Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 28 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tempest
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tempest
Noun
-
The chance for showers and storms slowly returns on Monday and becomes more likely by Tuesday.—
Michael Autovino,
CBS News,
15 Apr. 2026
-
Since 1850, only one storm, Hurricane Audrey in 1957, came close, making landfall in southwest Louisiana during a moderate El Niño.—
Newsroom Meteorologist,
Austin American Statesman,
7 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Set in Shizuoka during the 1970s and ’80s, the film draws on Kimura’s own family history, following a single mother’s pursuit of personal freedom amid the social upheaval of the era.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
10 Apr. 2026
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Their home offers refuge to Black travelers navigating the upheaval of the Great Migration.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Another trend was that police arrested or charged at least 59 people due to unrest at school board meetings from May 2021 through November 2022.—
Carrie Sampson,
The Conversation,
13 Apr. 2026
-
The threat of civil unrest hung over the final days of voting.—
Isaac Stanley-Becker,
The Atlantic,
12 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Trotsky’s arguments about revolution in one nation versus a revolution of the international proletariat, like the fine argumentative tracery of Paul’s Jewish Christians versus Greek ones, seemed vital to the movement at the time but weirdly trivial and abstract to those outside it.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
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The report said the number of executions was by far the highest since IHR began tracking it in 2008 and was the most reported since 1989, in the early years of the Islamic revolution.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
13 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Taiwan and Japan are reversing policies that shuttered nuclear sites following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown, triggered when an earthquake and tsunami disabled the power supply that cooled the reactors.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
17 Apr. 2026
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Protections for Haitians were first granted in 2010 after a devastating earthquake that has displaced more than 1 million people, according to court documents.—
Lisa Mascaro,
Chicago Tribune,
16 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tempest.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tempest. Accessed 18 Apr. 2026.
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