Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Rushing or falling headlong.
  • adjective Acting with or marked by impulsiveness in thought or action; rash.
  • adjective Abrupt or unexpected; sudden.
  • noun A substance that causes a precipitate to form when it is added to a solution.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Falling headlong; headlong.
  • Rushing hastily onward.
  • Rashly hasty; precipitate; characterized by rapid movement or progress; impatient to reach a conclusion.
  • noun In chem., an agent which, when added to a solution, separates something dissolved and causes it to precipitate, or fall to the bottom in a concrete state.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Chem.) Any force or reagent which causes the formation of a precipitate.
  • adjective Falling or rushing headlong; rushing swiftly, violently, or recklessly; moving precipitately.
  • adjective Unexpectedly or foolishly brought on or hastened; rashly hurried; hasty; sudden; reckless.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective That falls headlong, or causes a headlong fall
  • adjective Rash or impulsive
  • adjective Sudden or unexpected
  • adjective chemistry That causes precipitation
  • noun A substance that forms a precipitate when added to a solution

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an agent that causes a precipitate to form
  • adjective done with very great haste and without due deliberation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin praecipitāns, praecipitant-, present participle of praecipitāre, to throw headlong; see precipitate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French precipitant, from Latin praecipitans, present participle of praecipitare ("to cast down headlong"), from praeceps ("head foremost, headlong"), from prae ("before") + caput ("head").

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