precipitous
Americanadjective
-
of the nature of or characterized by precipices.
a precipitous wall of rock.
-
extremely or impassably steep.
precipitous mountain trails.
- Synonyms:
- perpendicular, sheer, abrupt
adjective
-
resembling a precipice or characterized by precipices
-
very steep
-
hasty or precipitate
Usage
The use of precipitous to mean hasty is thought by some people to be incorrect
Other Word Forms
- precipitously adverb
- precipitousness noun
- unprecipitous adjective
- unprecipitously adverb
- unprecipitousness noun
Etymology
Origin of precipitous
1640–50; < obsolete French précipiteux; precipitate, -ous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The channel wound between precipitous banks, and slanting from one wall to the other across the valley ran a streak of green—the river and its fields.
From Literature
There has been a lot of conjecture about what caused such a precipitous decline.
From Literature
Three hundred feet the down rose vertically in a stretch of no more than six hundred—a precipitous wall, from the thin belt of trees at the foot to the ridge where the steep flattened out.
From Literature
The ground was rocky, but the rocks were thick with moss and pine needles, and the slopes they climbed were not precipitous.
From Literature
From a high in 1990, the crime rate went into precipitous decline.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
