storm引申可作“强烈如暴(风)雨般的东西”,如情感、声音等的猛烈爆发,常与of连用。storm的基本意思是“袭击”,指用武力攻取,包含一次攻击中所有的冲锋和激战;
rainstorm:基本意思是“风暴,暴风雨”,指伴有雨、雪、雹等现象的大气的旋转运动而形成的风暴或暴风雨,是可数名词,有复数形式。
例句:
It's very heavy ─ I think there'll be a storm.
天气很闷热——我觉得暴风雨要来了。
I think we're in for a storm.
我觉得我们躲不过一场暴风雨了。
The ship was helpless against the power of the storm.
那艘船只能任凭强大的暴风雨肆虐。
This river used to get flooded whenever there was a rainstorm.
过去一下暴雨,这条河就发大水。
The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.
暴雨成灾。
Unexpectedly, a rainstorm overtook us before we reached our destination.
中途大雨,原未料及。