stormy

Etymology

It is formed from English storm + -y.^[2][3][4][5] Middle English had stormi and sturmi.^[6] Dictionary.com derives it from Old English stormig,^[7] and Etymonline calls the 12th-century form storemig late Old English,^[5] while the MED lists storemig as an early Middle English form and notes only that the word may already have existed in Old English.^[6] storm is from Old English storm (“tempest; onrush, attack; tumult”), from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz (“storm”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the weather, sky, sea and the like, marked by storms; of a place, subject to storms: before 1200.^[2][6] Etymonline dates stormi in the sense "characterized by violent weather" to the early 14th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The figurative use, of people, their temper and looks, and of times and events marked by violent feeling or strife, is recorded from before 1340 in Rolle.^[2][5] Chaucer and Gower each used stormy three times.^[8] From 1578 the word was used in poetry of things associated with storms or foretelling them,^[2] and the stormy petrel, a seabird, is recorded from 1776, soon also for a person who delights in strife or whose arrival signals trouble.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave the senses "tempestuous" and "violent; passionate".^[9] In pathology it was applied to inflammation from 1899.^[2] Middle English also had stormish, fickle or inconstant, in the mid-15th century.^[5]

Timeline

• before 1200 – marked by storms; of a place, subject to storms.^[2]
• before 1340 – figuratively, of people, tempers and events.^[2]
• 1578 – associated with or foretelling storms (poetic).^[2]
• 1725 – relating to storms (poetic).^[2]
• 1776 – stormy petrel.^[2]
• 1899 – in pathology, of inflammation.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Marked by storms, with strong winds, heavy rain or rough seas: a stormy crossing of the Channel.^[10][4][2]
2. Of a place, often hit by storms.^[4][2]
3. Full of strong feeling, quarrels or turmoil; turbulent: a stormy council meeting.^[10][4][2]
4. (poetic) Associated with storms or foretelling them.^[2]

Word family

• stormily
• storminess
• unstormy
• stormy petrel

Related words

• storm

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins