
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'precipitous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. 2023 The data show a precipitous decline in transplants across the board in March 2020, with an uptick a few months later back to pre-pandemic levels. Malena Carollo And Ben Tanen, Anchorage Daily News, 21 Mar. 2022 The data show a precipitous decline in transplants across the board in March 2020, with an uptick a few months later back to pre-pandemic levels. Precipitated definition, having been brought on suddenly or prematurely:Pressure on the tender spot causes the patient to physically react to the precipitated pain by exclaiming or moving.Operators are requesting compensation for losses incurred due to the precipitated shutdown of reactors after the accident. 2023 Coming just days after the referendum on joining Russia, the Russian retreat from Lyman was precipitous. precipitate ( third-person singular simple present precipitates, present participle precipitating, simple past and past participle precipitated ) ( transitive) To make something happen suddenly and quickly. 2023 Some slopes were so precipitous, they were considered unsafe for horses, to say nothing of tractors. Webster's New World Similar definitions A product resulting from a process, event, or course of action. The insoluble product is called a precipitate and can be seen as a solid forming in. precipitates A substance that is precipitated out from a solution or gas. 2022 The drop-off then becomes more precipitous. A precipitation reaction is one in which substances in solution are mixed and an insoluble product is made. 2023 The drop in temperatures will be precipitous. precipitate something to make something, especially something bad, happen suddenly or sooner than it should synonym bring on, spark (1). 2023 In San Diego County, the decline was more precipitous, with total rooms in 2022 - 152 - decreasing by nearly 80 percent from 2021 when 717 rooms in five hotels opened. When metal ions combine with the hydroxide ions (OH-) from either sodium hydroxide solution or ammonia solution. Thomas Doherty, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Mar. Precipitate tests Many tests for anions and cations are precipitation reactions. All rights reserved.Recent Examples on the Web The decline was precipitous, steady, and seemingly irreversible. In our 2004 survey, 65 percent accepted the sentence Pressure to marry may cause precipitous decision-making that is not grounded in the reality of who you are and what you want from life.įarlex Trivia Dictionary.

In fact, a majority of the Usage Panel now accepts this usage. After all a precipitous increase in reports of measles is also an abrupt or sudden event.

Many people object to this usage out of a desire to keep precipitate and precipitous distinct, but the extension of meaning from "steep" to "abrupt" is perfectly natural. But precipitous and precipitously are also frequently used to mean "abrupt, hasty," which takes them into territory that would ordinarily belong to precipitate and precipitately: their precipitous decision to leave. Precipitous currently means "steep" in both literal and figurative senses: the precipitous rapids of the upper river a precipitous drop in commodity prices.


Usage Note: The adjective precipitate and the adverb precipitately were once applied to physical steepness but are now used primarily of rash, headlong actions: Their precipitate entry into the foreign markets led to disaster.
