precipice

[ pres-uh-pis ]

/ ˈprɛs ə pɪs /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR precipice ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a cliff with a vertical, nearly vertical, or overhanging face.

a situation of great peril: on the precipice of war.

RELATED WORDS

bluff, cliff, crag, steep, height

Nearby words

Origin of precipice

1590–1600; < Middle French < Latin praecipitium steep place, equivalent to praecipit- (stem of praeceps) steep, headlong (prae- pre- + -cipit-, combining form of caput head; see caput) + -ium -ium

Related formsprec·i·piced, adjectiveun·prec·i·piced, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for precipice

They are always suspended over a precipice, dangling by a slender thread that shows every sign of snapping.
How the PC Police Threaten Free Speech|Nick Gillespie|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
When Brecht penned these lines, his continent hovered on the precipice of a journey into hell.
Brecht's Mercenary Mother Courage Turns 75|Katie Baker|September 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We always seem to be on the precipice of falling back into recession.
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Here we stand, on the precipice of another glorious summer—but what will it hold?
Let’s Lay Out the Odds on Your Crazy Summer|Kelly Williams Brown|May 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST

There was a sense of standing together on the precipice, but holding each other aloft by sheer will, conjoined by rage.
‘The Normal Heart’ and Hope in the Battlefield of AIDS|Michael Musto|May 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Cant you see, woman, that we are half-way down the precipice?
Michael and His Lost Angel|Henry Arthur Jones
The reader will feel how rapidly I was advancing to the brink of the precipice.
Caleb Williams|William Godwin
He slid down a precipice, one hundred feet high, into the ravine between the forts, and escaped to the woods.
The Student's Life of Washington; Condensed from the Larger Work of Washington Irving|Washington Irving
Natural hot and cold waters pour over a precipice of cyclopean masses of granite at one end, about fifty feet wide and forty high.
A Summer's Outing|Carter H. Harrison
But you were obliged to climb the precipice in order to reach the park of Devil's Cliff?
A Romance of the West Indies|Eugne Sue

British Dictionary definitions for precipice

precipice

/ (ˈprɛsɪpɪs) /

noun

the steep sheer face of a cliff or crag
the cliff or crag itself

a precarious situation

Derived Formsprecipiced, adjective

Word Origin for precipice

C16: from Latin praecipitium steep place, from praeceps headlong

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for precipice

precipice

"steep face of rock," 1630s, from Middle French précipice, from Latin praecipitium "a steep place," literally "a fall or leap," from praeceps (genitive praecipitis) "steep, headlong, headfirst," from prae "before, forth" (see pre-) + caput "head" (see head (n.)). Earlier in English as a verb (1590s) meaning "fall to great depth."