precipitous
6
7.7
- adjective
- /prɪˈsɪpɪtəs/
:
precipitado
- According to the first story, the baboons have an "instinctive" fear of precipitous heights.
- precipitous drop
- precipitous decline
- precipitous fall
It has been a precipitous drop, just drop.
- It has been a precipitous drop, just drop.
- So now the fall looks precipitous and much worse than realistically.
- So I was just thinking about this trust and how it's, it's the asymmetrical rise, decline, the precipitous drop.
- A sense to power money and fame and then precipitous falls.
Examples
-
The hiker carefully navigated the precipitous cliffs to avoid slipping off the edge.
-
The car struggled to ascend the precipitous road leading to the summit of the hill.
-
The U.S. dollar fell in value and seemed headed for an even more precipitous drop.
Academic text (2007) -
"I SPENT A WEEK in Pittsburgh, walking the precipitous streets of neighborhoods I remembered only in my dreams.
Fiction book (2002) -
The 2005 survey, however, shows a precipitous drop in ordained members by 31 percent over forty years.
Academic text (2006) -
Indeed, U.S. government figures show a precipitous drop in Iraqi military spending and arms imports after 1990.
Academic text (2004) -
The complex stands on a precipitous rock overlooking a deep gorge close to the sea.
Academic text (2003) -
There were no dangerous mazes, no precipitous heights, no tight squeezes.
Fiction book (1999) -
The graveyard smell of damp earth and stone, the precipitous descent, made me shiver.
Fiction book (1997) -
In the gloom, whoosh! Kip's wife rides a flying fox across a precipitous drop.
Fiction book (1996)
Synonyms
131
2.5
Having a very sharp slope or almost vertical angle
124
2.0
A sudden large change in amount or level
5
4.7
A very steep slope or drop that is often dangerous
4
6.3
Very steep and almost straight up, like a cliff
1
6.7
So steep that it drops almost straight down
1
4.3
A thing with sides that rise almost straight up
A steep slope that goes down a hill
Antonyms
How Steep
Surface Forms
Morphology
precipitous = precipitate (semi-transparent) = precipitate + ous
Formed with the common adjectival suffix '-ous' from 'precipitate', but the sense 'extremely steep' is historically related and not a completely regular derivation for learners.
Etymology
Precipitous comes from a Latin idea of going 'head-first', built from prae- 'before' and caput 'head'. So a precipitous slope is like a place you could fall 'head-first', meaning very steep and dangerous.