Tormenta

[DailyWord]

This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word (http://daily.tomisimo.org/) for March 24, 2009

tormenta (feminine noun (la)) — storm, tempest, turmoil. Look up tormenta in the dictionary (http://www.tomisimo.org/dictionary/spanish_english/tormenta)

En medio de una tormenta todo parece difícil, pero todas las tormentas se acaban.
In the middle of a storm everything looks hard, but all storms come to an end.

[Fazor]

Is this often used for literal storms, or more figuratively?
Hay un humor de tormenta entre el y ella.

[poli]

Yes, but temporal or tempestad is more common.

[CrOtALiTo]

I'm going most for the second choice tempest.

Yesterday was a tempest in my state and it destroyed a lot of homes and much families lost their things.

[Fazor]

Yesterday was a tempest in my state and it destroyed a lot of homes and much families lost their things.

I sure hope that's just an example, and didn't really happen!

In English, you wouldn't use 'tempest' much. Storm would be used; or if you had the swirling winds that form the funnels, then 'tornado' (or tornadoes plural).

I think I've only seen "Tempest" used in English in classical or ... for lack of better term, "fancy" literature.

[poli]

Tempest is current word in English. It it often used metaphorically though. Tempestuous behavior is behavior that is emotionally charged. There has been a tempest of criticism over the bonuses AIG employees received.
There is an idiom we use: a tempest in a teapot which means a lot of sound and fury over something insignificant.

It may not be a word you hear on Saturday morning TV, but it means storm-- just las tempestad means storm in Spanish.