different between precipice vs precipitate

English

Alternative forms

• præcipice (archaic)

Etymology

First attested in 1598, from Middle French precipice, from Latin praecipitium (“a steep place”), from praeceps (“steep”), from prae + caput (“head”). First meaning of the noun is recorded from 1632.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p??s?p?s/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /?p??s.?.p?s/
• Hyphenation: preci?pice

Noun

precipice (plural precipices)

1. A very steep cliff.
   • 1719- Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

     I resolved to remove my tent from the place where it stood, which was just under the hanging precipice of the hill; and which, if it should be shaken again, would certainly fall upon my tent...

2. The brink of a dangerous situation.

   to stand on a precipice

3. (obsolete) A headlong fall or descent.

Synonyms

• cliff
• cliffdrop

Related terms

• precipitous
• precipitously
• precipitousness

Translations

Middle French

Noun

precipice m (plural precipices)

1. precipice (steep cliff)

English

Alternative forms

• præcipitate (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Latin praecipitatus, from praecipit? (“throw down, hurl down, throw headlong”), from praeceps (“head foremost, headlong”), from prae (“before”) + caput (“head”).

Pronunciation

Verb:

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /p???s?p?te?t/, /p???s?p?te?t/

Adjective:

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /p???s?p?t?t/, /p???s?p?t?t/

common but often proscribed:

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /p???s?p?te?t/, /p???s?p?te?t/

Verb

precipitate (third-person singular simple present precipitates, present participle precipitating, simple past and past participle precipitated)

1. (transitive) To make something happen suddenly and quickly.

   Synonyms: advance, accelerate, hasten, speed up

   • 1737, Richard Glover, Leonidas Book 4

     Back to his sight precipitates her steps.

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Ambition

     if they be stout and daring, it may precipitate their designs, and prove dangerous

2. (transitive) To throw an object or person from a great height.

   Synonyms: throw, fling, cast; see also Thesaurus:throw
3. (transitive) To send violently into a certain state or condition.

4. (intransitive, chemistry) To come out of a liquid solution into solid form.

5. (transitive, chemistry) To separate a substance out of a liquid solution into solid form.
6. (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.

   Troponyms: rain, snow, hail

7. (transitive) To cause (water in the air) to condense or fall to the ground.

   • The light vapour of the preceding evening had been precipitated by the cold.

8. (intransitive) To fall headlong.
9. (intransitive) To act too hastily; to be precipitous.

Synonyms

• headlong

Derived terms

Related terms

• precipice
• precipitation

Translations

Adjective

precipitate (comparative more precipitate, superlative most precipitate)

1. headlong; falling steeply or vertically.

   Synonyms: headlong, precipitant, precipitous

2. Very steep; precipitous.

   Synonym: brant

3. With a hasty impulse; hurried; headstrong.

   Synonyms: hotheaded, impetuous, rash; see also Thesaurus:reckless

4. Moving with excessive speed or haste; overly hasty.
5. Performed very rapidly or abruptly.

   Synonyms: abrupt, precipitous, subitaneous; see also Thesaurus:sudden

Derived terms

• precipitately
• precipitateness

Translations

Etymology 2

From New Latin praecipitatum. Doublet of precipitato.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /p???s?p?t?t/, /p???s?p?t?t/
• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /p???s?p?te?t/, /p???s?p?te?t/

Noun

precipitate (plural precipitates)

1. a product resulting from a process, event, or course of action
   • 1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift [Avon ed., 1976, p. 381]:

     As for the musculature it is a precipitate of Spirit and the signature of the cosmos is in it.

2. (chemistry) a solid that exits the liquid phase of a solution

Translations

Related terms

• precipitous

Further reading

• precipitate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• precipitate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• precipitate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Peripatetic, peripatetic

Italian

Adjective

precipitate f pl

1. feminine plural of precipitato

Verb 1

precipitate

1. second-person plural present of precipitare
2. second-person plural imperative of precipitare

Verb 2

precipitate f pl

1. feminine plural past participle of precipitare