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Glite Dictionary
⚡ To cause suddenly 🧪 To form a solid 🧫 A solid from solution 🌧️ To fall as rain ⏬ To throw suddenly 🏃 Too hasty
to precipitate

to precipitate

1 8.1
To cause someone or something to fall suddenly into a new state
  • verb
  • /prɪˈsɪpɪˌteɪt/
  • Formal
translation icon : precipitar
  • As guides, we are there to assist in the evaluation of life's circumstances, life's goals, and the impending disruption and change that a new member of a family precipitates.

Examples

  • Just as having a certain mental state requires an appropriate disposition, so are dispositions precipitated by fitting mental states.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The sudden news of the merger precipitated a wave of uncertainty among the employees.

  • Instead, he had been precipitated into an alternate universe.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The notion that On Kawara lurks behind the "self-objectified presence" precipitated by his "bureaucratic" records seems a strange suspicion.

    Academic text (1999)

  • "Not for sale," said Mama Hallie, leaning against the door with her full weight, like a boulder precipitating an avalanche, until he thought all the bones in his foot were going to break and tried to withdraw.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Her fear of the dark can sometimes precipitate anxiety attacks when she is alone.

  • Heavy rains can precipitate flooding in low-lying areas of the city.

Synonyms

to induce
vsto precipitate
168 5.3

Cause a process, event, or feeling to start

causes sudden rapid change rather than gradual or delayed onset
to spark
vsto precipitate
154 3.4

To cause something to start, often an idea or strong feeling

causes sudden rapid movement into a new state rather than merely starting it
precipitating
vsto precipitate
  • Formal
6.7

Something that causes a sudden, unexpected event or change

is the simple verb form used broadly rather than the participle

Antonyms

to stabilize
  • US
75 4.3

To become steady and stop changing

How Sudden

to throw
880 7.5
to plunge
83 3.8
to precipitate
  • Formal
1 8.1
to lead to
∞ 2.5
to move into
439 1.0

Surface Forms

precipitate infinitive
precipitated past
precipitated past participle
precipitating present participle
precipitates third person singular

Morphology

precipitate = precipit + ate

Although semantically related to 'falling' or 'causing to fall', the morphological parts are Latin-derived and not productive modern English morphemes that would let a learner derive this meaning reliably.

Etymology

Precipitate comes from Latin parts prae- 'before' and caput 'head', which together give the sense of being thrown 'headfirst'. So to precipitate someone or something into a state is to push them there suddenly and quickly.