precipitated

[pri-sip-i-tey-tid]

adjective

1. having been brought on suddenly or prematurely.

   Pressure on the tender spot causes the patient to physically react to the precipitated pain by exclaiming or moving.

   Operators are requesting compensation for losses incurred due to the precipitated shutdown of reactors after the accident.

2. Chemistry.,  (of solid material) having been separated from a solution, such as by evaporation or through the use of a reagent.

   You can tell the reaction is complete from the purple color of the precipitated sodium chloride.

   The precipitated salts give the dry lake bed a white color resembling a beach.

3. Meteorology.,  having fallen as rain, snow, hail, etc..

   Most of the precipitated water moves along these defined channels before being discharged into streams.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of precipitate.

Other Word Forms

• unprecipitated adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of precipitated¹

precipitate ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

L.A.’s nonchalant highhandedness can gall today as it did 101 years ago when it precipitated what secessionists hailed as the “day of deliverance” from the “imperial county.”

From Los Angeles Times

Such developments, coupled with growing public outrage, seem to have precipitated a change of tone from the Australian government.

From BBC

And yet I was afraid to bring up the topic of marriage in case the answer precipitated one more casualty in my portfolio of failed romances.

From Los Angeles Times

It’s unclear what precipitated the barrage of social media threats from Johnson to Rogan in recent days, though I’m inclined to think Johnson’s efforts to promote the Netflix show are a likely factor.

From Salon

Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, wrote that the plan may have “precipitated unlawful action by the University of California and some or all its constituent campuses.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• accelerate 
• expedite 
• hasten 
• trigger