Sample sentences for PRECIPITATE

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.

precipitate = sudden

The agency recommended against taking precipitate action.

precipitate = sudden (without adequate thought)

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

precipitate = acted too quickly

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

precipitately = suddenly

His downfall, too, will not be more precipitate than awkward.
Edgar Allan Poe -- The Purloined Letter

precipitate = sudden or fast

At that Mr. Heelas fled precipitately upstairs, and the rest of the chase is beyond his purview.
H.G. Wells -- The Invisible Man

precipitately = with great haste

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

precipitately = with great haste

The crowd at the door fell back precipitately.
Stephen Crane -- Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

precipitately = with great haste

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

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

precipitated = suddenly fell

She expressed concern that withdrawal of UN troops will precipitate chaos and tribal warfare.

precipitate = cause suddenly

She discussed the crisis precipitated by the Russian revolution.

precipitated = caused suddenly

...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

precipitated = suddenly caused

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

precipitate = lead to (make it happen quickly)

it was a greater delight slyly to precipitate a fight amongst his mates
Jack London -- The Call of the Wild

precipitate = make something happen abruptly (suddenly)

Relentless physical abuse had precipitated most of the deaths.
Laura Hillenbrand -- Unbroken

precipitated = caused

The precipitating event is invariably domestic: a dispute with girlfriends or parents.
Malcolm Gladwell -- The Tipping Point

precipitating = triggering (thing that causes something else to suddenly happen)

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google^®Dictionary list — Onelook.com^®

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...".

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