Characterized by strong winds, rain, or other violent weather conditions; turbulent or emotionally intense.
From Old English storm plus the suffix -y. The word storm itself comes from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz, related to the concept of 'tumult' or 'disorder'. The metaphorical use for emotional turbulence dates to the 16th century.
Meteorological words like 'stormy' are among the most fertile sources for emotional metaphors in English - we naturally map weather patterns onto human experiences, giving us phrases like 'stormy relationship' or 'weathering difficulties'. This shows how deeply our language connects inner emotional landscapes with outer natural phenomena.
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