See perfect storm on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "First use appears c. 1936 in the newspaper The Port Arthur News.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "perfect storms",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "perfect storm (plural perfect storms)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Meteorology",
"orig": "en:Meteorology",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "75 25",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "70 30",
"kind": "other",
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"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
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{
"_dis": "83 17",
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{
"_dis": "87 13",
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},
{
"_dis": "72 28",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with German translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "81 19",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "73 27",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "1796, William Fordyce Mavor, Historical account of the most celebrated voyages, travels, and discoveries ..., p. 161,\nBut on the 24th of April, the wind again blew a perfect storm, and our other ships of the squadron separated, nor did any of them rejoin the commodore."
},
{
"text": "1914, Samuel Finley Breese Morse and Edward Lind Morse, Samuel F.B. Morse: His Letters and Journals, p. 190,\nTen o'clock. Beginning to blow hard; taking in sails one after another. — Three o'clock. A perfect storm; the gale a few days ago but a gentle breeze to it."
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
63,
76
]
],
"ref": "2014 October 27, Taylor Swift, Imogen Heap, “Clean (Taylor's Version)”, in 1989 (Taylor's Version), performed by Taylor Swift, published 27 October 2023:",
"text": "Hung my head as I lost the war\nAnd the sky turned black like a perfect storm",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A powerful hurricane or other major weather disturbance, especially as produced by a combination of meteorological conditions."
],
"id": "en-perfect_storm-en-noun-GOaDyVyp",
"links": [
[
"meteorology",
"meteorology"
],
[
"powerful",
"powerful"
],
[
"hurricane",
"hurricane"
],
[
"weather",
"weather"
],
[
"disturbance",
"disturbance"
],
[
"combination",
"combination"
],
[
"meteorological",
"meteorological"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(meteorology, informal) A powerful hurricane or other major weather disturbance, especially as produced by a combination of meteorological conditions."
],
"tags": [
"informal"
],
"topics": [
"climatology",
"meteorology",
"natural-sciences"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"text": "1862, Frank Moore, Edward Everett, The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events, p. 149,\nThey sent a perfect storm of bullets, over, under, and into our men."
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
33,
46
]
],
"ref": "2008 June 30, Jim Coyle, “Stormy weather for tourism season”, in Toronto Star, page AA8:",
"text": "Tory said he was worried that \"a perfect storm\" of economic factors could put tourist operators and their communities in peril.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A convergence of multiple adverse factors that together create a critical, disastrous, or unusually severe situation."
],
"id": "en-perfect_storm-en-noun-wZmm4D3H",
"links": [
[
"convergence",
"convergence"
],
[
"multiple",
"multiple"
],
[
"adverse",
"adverse"
],
[
"factor",
"factor"
],
[
"create",
"create"
],
[
"critical",
"critical"
],
[
"disastrous",
"disastrous"
],
[
"severe",
"severe"
],
[
"situation",
"situation"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figuratively, by extension) A convergence of multiple adverse factors that together create a critical, disastrous, or unusually severe situation."
],
"tags": [
"broadly",
"figuratively"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "5 95",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Verkettung unglücklicher Umstände"
},
{
"_dis1": "5 95",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "tormenta perfecta"
},
{
"_dis1": "5 95",
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"lang_code": "sv",
"sense": "situation",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "perfekt storm"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-perfect storm.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/af/En-au-perfect_storm.ogg/En-au-perfect_storm.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/En-au-perfect_storm.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
]
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"The Port Arthur News"
],
"word": "perfect storm"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations",
"Terms with Swedish translations"
],
"etymology_text": "First use appears c. 1936 in the newspaper The Port Arthur News.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "perfect storms",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "perfect storm (plural perfect storms)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English informal terms",
"English terms with quotations",
"en:Meteorology"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "1796, William Fordyce Mavor, Historical account of the most celebrated voyages, travels, and discoveries ..., p. 161,\nBut on the 24th of April, the wind again blew a perfect storm, and our other ships of the squadron separated, nor did any of them rejoin the commodore."
},
{
"text": "1914, Samuel Finley Breese Morse and Edward Lind Morse, Samuel F.B. Morse: His Letters and Journals, p. 190,\nTen o'clock. Beginning to blow hard; taking in sails one after another. — Three o'clock. A perfect storm; the gale a few days ago but a gentle breeze to it."
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
63,
76
]
],
"ref": "2014 October 27, Taylor Swift, Imogen Heap, “Clean (Taylor's Version)”, in 1989 (Taylor's Version), performed by Taylor Swift, published 27 October 2023:",
"text": "Hung my head as I lost the war\nAnd the sky turned black like a perfect storm",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A powerful hurricane or other major weather disturbance, especially as produced by a combination of meteorological conditions."
],
"links": [
[
"meteorology",
"meteorology"
],
[
"powerful",
"powerful"
],
[
"hurricane",
"hurricane"
],
[
"weather",
"weather"
],
[
"disturbance",
"disturbance"
],
[
"combination",
"combination"
],
[
"meteorological",
"meteorological"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(meteorology, informal) A powerful hurricane or other major weather disturbance, especially as produced by a combination of meteorological conditions."
],
"tags": [
"informal"
],
"topics": [
"climatology",
"meteorology",
"natural-sciences"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "1862, Frank Moore, Edward Everett, The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events, p. 149,\nThey sent a perfect storm of bullets, over, under, and into our men."
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
33,
46
]
],
"ref": "2008 June 30, Jim Coyle, “Stormy weather for tourism season”, in Toronto Star, page AA8:",
"text": "Tory said he was worried that \"a perfect storm\" of economic factors could put tourist operators and their communities in peril.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A convergence of multiple adverse factors that together create a critical, disastrous, or unusually severe situation."
],
"links": [
[
"convergence",
"convergence"
],
[
"multiple",
"multiple"
],
[
"adverse",
"adverse"
],
[
"factor",
"factor"
],
[
"create",
"create"
],
[
"critical",
"critical"
],
[
"disastrous",
"disastrous"
],
[
"severe",
"severe"
],
[
"situation",
"situation"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figuratively, by extension) A convergence of multiple adverse factors that together create a critical, disastrous, or unusually severe situation."
],
"tags": [
"broadly",
"figuratively"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-perfect storm.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/af/En-au-perfect_storm.ogg/En-au-perfect_storm.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/En-au-perfect_storm.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
]
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Verkettung unglücklicher Umstände"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "situation",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "tormenta perfecta"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"lang_code": "sv",
"sense": "situation",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "perfekt storm"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"The Port Arthur News"
],
"word": "perfect storm"
}
Download raw JSONL data for perfect storm meaning in All languages combined (4.1kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.