precipitous
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From obsolete French précipiteux, from Vulgar Latin *praecipitosus. Equivalent to precipice (“steep”) + -ous.
PronunciationEdit
Audio (US) (file)
AdjectiveEdit
precipitous
- Steep, like a precipice
- a precipitous cliff
- a precipitous mountain
- a precipitous decline
- a precipitous drop
- Headlong
- a precipitous fall
- Hasty; rash; quick; sudden
- precipitous attempts
- 2007 March, Fay, J. Michael, “Ivory Wars: Last Stand in Zakouma”, in National Geographic, page 46:
- […] humans have been responsible for a precipitous decline of elephants, from perhaps 300,000 in the early 1970s to some 10,000 today.
SynonymsEdit
- (steep): brant, steep-to
- (headlong): headlong, precipitant, precipitous
- (hasty, rash): heedless, hotheaded, impetuous; see also Thesaurus:reckless
- (sudden): abrupt, precipitous, subitaneous; see also Thesaurus:sudden
TranslationsEdit
steep, like a precipice
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headlong
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hasty; rash; quick; sudden; precipitate
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Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for precipitous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)