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:

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; hasten.
    to precipitate a journey, or a conflict
    • 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.
    • 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.
  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.
    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.
Synonyms
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 precipitato

Verb

precipitate

  1. second-person plural present of precipitare
  2. second-person plural imperative of precipitare
  3. feminine plural past participle of precipitare
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.