Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Resembling a precipice; extremely steep. See Synonyms at steep1.
- adj. Having several precipices: a precipitous bluff.
- adj. Usage Problem Extremely rapid, hasty, or abrupt; precipitate: "The change has included a precipitous collapse of Communist authority” ( New York Times). See Usage Note at precipitate.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Headlong; descending rapidly, or rushing onward.
- Steep; like a precipice; consisting of precipices: as, precipitous cliffs.
- Hasty; rash; precipitate.
- Hastily appearing or passing; sudden.
- Synonyms and See. precipitate, a.
Wiktionary
- adj. Steep, like a precipice; as, a precipitous cliff or mountain.
- adj. Headlong; as, precipitous fall.
- adj. Hasty; rash; quick; sudden; precipitate; as, precipitous attempts.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Steep, like a precipice.
- adj. Headlong.
- adj. Hasty; rash; quick; sudden; precipitate.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. done with very great haste and without due deliberation
- adj. extremely steep
Etymologies
- Probably from obsolete precipitious, from Latin praecipitium, precipice; see precipice. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“When I left the family home in a blaze of anger and anxiety, I took what I call precipitous action.”
“BASH: The problem, though, for Democrats is that Republicans, even those who have come out -- and pretty harsh words -- said that the president's policy is not working, they are also saying that they do not feel comfortable in voting with Democrats on what they call precipitous withdrawal from Iraq.”
“That's the major question at this point that is still unanswered, these growing ranks of Republicans who are breaking with the president's Iraq strategy, but maybe they aren't walking right in line with Democrats and what they call a precipitous withdrawal.”
“MCINTYRE: Gates says whatever happens in September, it won't lead to what he calls a precipitous decision.”
“MCINTYRE (on camera): Gates says whatever happens in September, it will not lead to what he calls a precipitous decision.”
“LEVS: Well, when you're having a kid no one ever tells about this obscure thing called precipitous labor that we had never heard out.”
“Nothing precipitous, that is a straw man from a desperate”
“In the debate on Iraq, when critics of the war advocated for a timetable for withdrawal, we were told that a "precipitous" withdrawal would be a disaster.”
Robert Naiman: Withdraw from Afghanistan with a Public, Negotiated Timetable
“This kind of precipitous free-fall, among the very safest tranches within this type of AAA-rated securities, was unprecedented.”
David Fiderer: Hank Paulson, The Unnamed "Decider" In The Merrill Lynch Saga
“(It's worth adding that, as in the Vietnam era so many decades ago, mainstream critics of antiwar critics continue to regularly suggest that any kind of "precipitous" withdrawal of American troops would almost certainly result in a genocidal slaughter, even as such a slaughter has taken place with the troops there.)”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘precipitous’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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words 1
Traduce, Ramify, precipitous, rapture, adumbrate, knell, smolder, vagary, choleric, sibylline, hypocritical, jejune and 135 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
irk, teem, blight, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado and 401 more...
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501
Classic
bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august and 401 more...
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D4Divine's list
idiosyncratic, unfathomable, easement, plenary, trenchant, extracurially, periphrastic, prima facie, usurp, vacuous, unctuous, recapitulate and 16 more...
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Japnam's To dos
umbrage, moribund, vaunt, budge, trifling, heyday, precipitous, eminence, thwarting, peter out, tumult, tennybopper and 4 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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fredrx's beautiful sounding list
two most beautiful words when put together
womb, philistine, poignant, wombastic, eschelon, macabre, precipitous, panache, misogynist, placebo, cacophony, aplomb and 43 more...
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GRE Reference
A list of words unfamiliar to me that I have repeatedly encountered in GRE question sets.
parochial, clique, salacious, aegis, ostracize, conceited, sacrilegious, inane, serendipity, gourmand, polemic, tenuous and 138 more...
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ChortleGiggleSnort
Significant Words- Guiding you on your path to Snazzibility
flimsy, feeble, ranting, ramble, narky, snazzy, yoghurt, bulbous, pustule, globulous, geranium, megalomaniac and 521 more...
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Words I Should Use More Often
Words that I'll use to sound erudite.
fungible, aggrandizement, tete-a-tete, sententious, serendipitous, fortuitous, lugubrious, declivity, propitiatory, volubility, august, tenebrous and 214 more...
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Learned
ambergris, andiron, aphelion, austral, bellicose, boreal, bravura, chaff, chicanery, creditable, credulous, decamp and 223 more...
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Words I Want To Master
Words I know... but can never seem to remember while speaking or writing!
unfettered, nebulous, elude, vapid, precipitous, abscond, venerate, voracious, replete, laconic, denigrating, unctuous and 23 more...
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Sudden
Adjectives meaning sudden
Tweets
Looking for tweets for precipitous.
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