2 meanings
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1 —
(adj) as in: a precipitate decision
Definition
acting with great haste — often without adequate thought- Think about this. Don't make a precipitate decision.
precipitate = sudden (without adequate thought)
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- I had planned to ask her, but she made a precipitate departure.
- The agency recommended against taking precipitate action.
- I am very sensible, madam, of the hardship to my fair cousins, and could say much on the subject, but that I am cautious of appearing forward and precipitate.Jane Austen -- Pride and Prejudice
- Crawford had been too precipitate.Jane Austen -- Mansfield Park
- There is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind, and as we drove away Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic. His wife and his mistress, until an hour ago secure and inviolate, were slipping precipitately from his control.F. Scott Fitzgerald -- The Great Gatsby
- His downfall, too, will not be more precipitate than awkward.Edgar Allan Poe -- The Purloined Letter
- At that Mr. Heelas fled precipitately upstairs, and the rest of the chase is beyond his purview.H.G. Wells -- The Invisible Man
- But now that I was beginning to understand something of his quality, I could divine the stress he laid on doing nothing precipitately.H.G. Wells -- The War of the Worlds
- The crowd at the door fell back precipitately.Stephen Crane -- Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
precipitate = sudden
precipitate = sudden (without adequate thought)
precipitate = acted too quickly
precipitately = suddenly
precipitate = sudden or fast
precipitately = with great haste
precipitately = with great haste
precipitately = with great haste
2 —
(verb) as in: it could precipitate war
Definition
make something happen or to fall or move — typically suddenly and often of something undesired- The accident precipitated the union strike for better working conditions.
precipitated = caused suddenly
Other Uses (with this meaning)
- Our economy precipitated into complete ruin
- She expressed concern that withdrawal of UN troops will precipitate chaos and tribal warfare.
- She discussed the crisis precipitated by the Russian revolution.
- ...for it is certainly possible ... to provoke and precipitate the people into the wildest excesses.Alexander Hamilton -- Federalist Papers
- ...I'd like to know, in your own words, what it was that precipitated that decision.Sarah Dessen -- The Truth About Forever
- it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitate violence.Martin Luther King, Jr. -- Letter from a Birmingham Jail
- it was a greater delight slyly to precipitate a fight amongst his matesJack London -- The Call of the Wild
- The precipitating event is invariably domestic: a dispute with girlfriends or parents.Malcolm Gladwell -- The Tipping Point
- Halfway down, she looked back up at me, and I knew she was still wondering what exactly had precipitated this sudden acquiescence.Sarah Dessen -- Lock and Key
precipitated = suddenly fell
precipitate = cause suddenly
precipitated = caused suddenly
precipitated = suddenly caused
precipitate = lead to (make it happen quickly)
precipitate = make something happen abruptly (suddenly)
precipitating = triggering (thing that causes something else to suddenly happen)
precipitated = suddenly caused
Less commonly:
In chemistry, the verb form denotes separating solids from a solution; while the noun form references the solid particles in such a solution. It is from this sense that meteorologists refer to rain or snow as precipitation.
In classic literature, the word is sometimes used as a verb to indicated falling from a high spot such as "a false step could precipitate them down off the cliff," or throwing as in "If they attempt to precipitate themselves upon him...".