precipitation
noun
Simple meaning
The falling to earth of any form of water.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
prihsihpihtayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pɹɪsɪpɪˈteɪʃən
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.
noun
meteorology
The amount of water precipitated in any form.
meteorology
The falling to earth of any form of water (rain or snow or hail or sleet or mist)
countableuncountablechemistry
A reaction that leads to the formation of a heavier, and often less soluble, solid in a lighter liquid; the precipitate so formed at the bottom of the container.
figuratively
Unwise or rash rapidity; sudden haste.
A hurried headlong fall.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The falling to earth of any form of water (rain or snow or hail or sleet or mist)
Used this way, precipitation is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use precipitation
- “The storm brought several inches of precipitation.”noun
- “He is responsible for the precipitation of his own demise.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Rain containing acids that form in the atmosphere when industrial gas emissions (especially sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) combine with water.
A process that removes suspended dust particles from a gas by applying a high voltage electrostatic charge to the particles and collecting them on charged plates.
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.