precipice
[ pres-uh-pis ]
/ ˈprɛs ə pɪs /
noun
a cliff with a vertical, nearly vertical, or overhanging face.
a situation of great peril: on the precipice of war.
RELATED CONTENT
Tick, Tock: What Is The “Doomsday Clock?”What is the Doomsday Clock? Doomsday is one of those evocative words that paint a very vivid picture. As our definition states, “the day of the Last Judgment, at the end of the world; nuclear destruction of the world; given to or marked by forebodings or predictions of impending calamity; especially concerned with or predicting future universal destruction.” As you can see, it’s about as bottom …
RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
- precious moonstone,
- precious opal,
- precious stone,
- preciously,
- precipe,
- precipitable,
- precipitable water,
- precipitancy,
- precipitant,
- precipitate
Origin of precipice
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for precipice
precipice
/ (ˈprɛsɪpɪs) /
noun
- the steep sheer face of a cliff or crag
- the cliff or crag itself
a precarious situation
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
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."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper