precipitate

English
WOTD – 29 November 2007

Alternative forms

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:

common but often proscribed:

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
    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.
  2. (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.
  3. (transitive) To send violently into a certain state or condition.
    we were precipitated into a conflict
  4. (intransitive, chemistry) To come out of a liquid solution into solid form.
    Adding the acid will cause the salt to precipitate.
  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
    It will precipitate tomorrow, but we don't know whether as rain or snow.
  7. (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.
  8. (intransitive) To fall headlong.
  9. (intransitive) To act too hastily; to be precipitous.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Derived terms
Translations

Adjective

precipitate (comparative more precipitate, superlative most precipitate)

  1. headlong; falling steeply or vertically.
    • Prior
      Precipitate the furious torrent flows.
  2. Very steep; precipitous.
  3. With a hasty impulse; hurried; headstrong.
  4. Moving with excessive speed or haste.
    The king was too precipitate in declaring war.
    a precipitate case of disease
  5. Performed very rapidly or abruptly.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From New Latin praecipitatum.

Pronunciation

Noun

precipitate (plural precipitates)

  1. a product resulting from a process, event, or course of action
  2. (chemistry) a solid that exits the liquid phase of a solution
Translations

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

Anagrams

Italian

Adjective

precipitate f pl

  1. Feminine plural of adjective 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
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