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
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The National Weather Service confirmed on Tuesday that 12 tornadoes were produced across Illinois and northern Indiana during a series of severe storms earlier this month.—
Jeramie Bizzle,
CBS News,
25 Mar. 2026
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One unforeseen storm might send users looking for an alternative.—
Kyle Chayka,
New Yorker,
25 Mar. 2026
Noun
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In the wake of Republican defeats in a string of special elections − including a Democratic victory in the Florida state house race to represent the president's home district − the record-setting protests were one more omen of upheaval ahead in November's midterm elections.—
Susan Page,
USA Today,
29 Mar. 2026
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That gave Schiaparelli’s clothing a sense of relevance in pre-World War II Europe’s cultural upheaval and aesthetically traditionalist Paris — a methodology that Roseberry has picked up.—
Rachel Tashjian,
CNN Money,
28 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Five years after he was killed, in response to political unrest, the government increased the derivation fund to 13 percent for oil-producing states.—
Noo Saro-Wiwa,
The Dial,
24 Mar. 2026
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O'Hara compared that chaos to the unrest after the 2020 killing of Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, which led to major protests and riots.—
Jaclyn Diaz,
NPR,
24 Mar. 2026
Noun
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His own parents left the nation that’s located 90 miles off the coast of Florida three years before the 1959 revolution that brought Castro to power.—
Francesca Chambers,
USA Today,
24 Mar. 2026
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But Cursor has a problem, and that problem is called Claude Code, a competitor launched by Anthropic barely a year ago that helped unleash a revolution in coding via agentic AI.—
Matthew Heimer,
Fortune,
23 Mar. 2026
Noun
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It is estimated that there are 500,000 detectable earthquakes in the world each year.—
CA Earthquake Bot,
Sacbee.com,
27 Mar. 2026
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An extremely large instance of calving can even shake the ground, causing a glacial earthquake, also known as a cryoseism or icequake.—
Andrew Coletti,
Popular Science,
26 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tempest.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tempest. Accessed 29 Mar. 2026.
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