precipitate
English
WOTD – 29 November 2007
Alternative forms
- præcipitate (obsolete)
Etymology 1
From Latin praecipitatus, from Latin praecipitō (“throw down, hurl down, throw headlong”), from praeceps (“head foremost, headlong”), from prae (“before”) + caput (“head”).
Pronunciation
Verb:
- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /pɹɪˈsɪpɪteɪt/, /pɹəˈsɪpɪteɪt/
Audio (US) (file)
Adjective:
- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /pɹɪˈsɪpɪtət/, /pɹəˈsɪpɪtət/
Audio (US) (file)
common but often proscribed:
- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /pɹɪˈsɪpɪteɪt/, /pɹəˈsɪpɪteɪt/
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
precipitate (third-person singular simple present precipitates, present participle precipitating, simple past and past participle precipitated)
- (transitive) To make something happen suddenly and quickly.
- Synonyms: advance, accelerate, hasten, speed up
- to precipitate a journey, or a conflict
- it precipitated their success
- Glover
- Back to his sight precipitates her steps.
- Francis Bacon
- If they be daring, it may precipitate their designs, and prove dangerous.
- (transitive) To throw an object or person from a great height.
- Synonyms: throw, fling, cast; see also Thesaurus:throw
- Washington Irving
- She and her horse had been precipitated to the pebbled region of the river.
- (transitive) To send violently into a certain state or condition.
- we were precipitated into a conflict
- (intransitive, chemistry) To come out of a liquid solution into solid form.
- Adding the acid will cause the salt to precipitate.
- (transitive, chemistry) To separate a substance out of a liquid solution into solid form.
- (intransitive, meteorology) To have water in the air fall to the ground, for example as rain, snow, sleet, or hail; be deposited as condensed droplets.
- (transitive) To cause (water in the air) to condense or fall to the ground.
- Washington Irving
- The light vapour of the preceding evening had been precipitated by the cold.
- Washington Irving
- (intransitive) To fall headlong.
- (intransitive) To act too hastily; to be precipitous.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
make something happen suddenly and quickly; hasten
To throw an object or person from a great height
To send violently into a certain state or condition
To come out of a liquid solution into solid form
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To separate out of a liquid solution into solid form
To have water in the air fall to the ground
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Adjective
precipitate (comparative more precipitate, superlative most precipitate)
- headlong; falling steeply or vertically.
- Prior
- Precipitate the furious torrent flows.
- Prior
- Very steep; precipitous.
- With a hasty impulse; hurried; headstrong.
- Moving with excessive speed or haste.
- The king was too precipitate in declaring war.
- a precipitate case of disease
- Performed very rapidly or abruptly.
- 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness, chapter 6:
- It had cost me a distinct psychological effort to do so, and now that I was shut inside I had a momentary longing for precipitate retreat.
- 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness, chapter 6:
Derived terms
Translations
Headlong; falling steeply or vertically
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Very steep; precipitous
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With a hasty impulse; hurried; headstrong
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Moving with excessive speed or haste
Performed very rapidly or abruptly
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Etymology 2
From New Latin praecipitatum.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /pɹɪˈsɪpɪtət/, /pɹəˈsɪpɪtət/
Audio (US) (file) - (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /pɹɪˈsɪpɪteɪt/, /pɹəˈsɪpɪteɪt/
Noun
precipitate (plural precipitates)
Translations
Related terms
Further reading
- precipitate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- precipitate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- precipitate at OneLook Dictionary Search
Italian
Verb 1
precipitate
- second-person plural present of precipitare
- second-person plural imperative of precipitare
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