precipice
[pres-uh-pis]
- a cliff with a vertical, nearly vertical, or overhanging face.
- a situation of great peril: on the precipice of war.
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Origin of precipice
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for precipice
Contemporary Examples
They are always suspended over a precipice, dangling by a slender thread that shows every sign of snapping.
When Brecht penned these lines, his continent hovered on the precipice of a journey into hell.
We always seem to be on the precipice of falling back into recession.
Here we stand, on the precipice of another glorious summer—but what will it hold?
There was a sense of standing together on the precipice, but holding each other aloft by sheer will, conjoined by rage.
Historical Examples
At present I am on the precipice; without your hand I fall forever.
Alice, or The Mysteries, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
Do you not look on the past with a shudder at the precipice on which you stood?
Alice, or The Mysteries, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
I—I feel like a dizzy creature standing at the edge of a precipice.
The Law-BreakersRidgwell Cullum
Only a slender column of dust was still eddying at the edge of the precipice.
A Hero of Our TimeM. Y. Lermontov
The rebels were on the brink of a precipice, and extricated themselves.
Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863Adam Gurowski
precipice
- the steep sheer face of a cliff or crag
- the cliff or crag itself
- a precarious situation
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for precipice
n.
"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."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper