French edit

Etymology edit

From Latin prae + caput (head).

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /pʁe.si.pi.te/
  • (file)

Verb edit

précipiter

  1. (transitive) to throw out, push out, chuck out, throw off, push off, chuck off
    précipiter quelqu’un d’un bâtimentthrow someone off/out of a building
  2. (reflexive) to throw oneself out, to jump out
    • 1870, Jules Verne, chapter 9, in Vingt Mille Lieues Sous Les Mers [Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas]‎[1], Paris: J. Hetzel et Compagnie, part 1:
      Avant que j’eusse fait un mouvement pour l’en empêcher, le Canadien s’était précipité sur ce malheureux; il l’avait renversé; il le tenait à la gorge. Le stewart étouffait sous sa main puissante.
      Before I could make a movement to stop him, the Canadian threw himself onto the unlucky chap; he had knocked him over; he was grabbing him by the throat. The steward was choking under his powerful hand.
  3. (transitive) to take down, to bring down
  4. (transitive) to rush (hasten, do something too fast)
  5. (transitive, chemistry) to precipitate
  6. (reflexive) to precipitate (fall from the sky)
  7. (reflexive) to dash, to move quickly

Conjugation edit

Related terms edit

Further reading edit