Tormenta

Tormenta
 

This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word for March 24, 2009

tormenta (feminine noun (la)) — storm, tempest, turmoil. Look up tormenta in the dictionary

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.

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

Yes, but temporal or tempestad is more common.

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.

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.

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.