precipitate
verb · adjective · noun
Simple meaning
To have water in the air fall to the ground, for example as rain, snow, sleet.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
prihsipihtaytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pɹɪˈsɪpɪteɪt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitivemeteorology
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.
Separate as a fine suspension of solid particles
transitive
To throw an object or person from a great height.
transitive
To send violently into a certain state or condition.
intransitive
To act too hastily; to be precipitous.
adjective
Moving with excessive speed or haste; overly hasty.
With a hasty impulse; hurried; headstrong.
Very steep; precipitous.
Headlong; falling steeply or vertically.
Performed very rapidly or abruptly.
noun
A product resulting from a process, event, or course of action.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To make something happen suddenly and quickly.
Used this way, precipitate is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Sudden and forceful
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use precipitate
- “The bridge broke and precipitated the train into the river below.”verb
- “Our economy precipitated into complete ruin.”verb
- “The crisis precipitated by Russia's revolution.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.