precipitous

[ pri-sip-i-tuhs ]

adjective

1. of the nature of or characterized by precipices:

   a precipitous wall of rock.

   Antonyms: level, flat

2. extremely or impassably steep:

   precipitous mountain trails.

   Synonyms: perpendicular, sheer, abrupt

   Antonyms: level, flat

3. precipitate.

precipitous

/ prɪˈsɪpɪtəs /

adjective

1. resembling a precipice or characterized by precipices
2. very steep
3. hasty or precipitate

Usage

The use of precipitous to mean hasty is thought by some people to be incorrect

Derived Forms

• preˈcipitousness, noun
• preˈcipitously, adverb

Other Words From

• pre·cipi·tous·ly adverb
• pre·cipi·tous·ness noun
• unpre·cipi·tous adjective
• unpre·cipi·tous·ly adverb
• unpre·cipi·tous·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of precipitous¹

1640–50; < obsolete French précipiteux; precipitate, -ous

Example Sentences

News publishers in particular have alleged the company is not adequately compensating them for content, leading to a precipitous decline in financial viability for journalism.

From Fortune

San Diego’s “naturally affordable housing,” homes not built with the help of subsidies that are nonetheless cheap enough for low-income residents to afford, has been in precipitous decline since before Faulconer took office.

From Voice of San Diego

We think everyone needs to hunker down and brace for what’s going to be a precipitous increase.

From Washington Post

New studies, from both federal and private research groups, generally indicate that when the country marked precipitous job losses from March to May—with more than 25 million people forced out of work—the loss of health insurance was less dramatic.

From Fortune

Steady increases in fishing capacity—larger nets, bigger ships that voyaged farther out to sea, new technologies for scraping the seabed—compensated for and thus largely masked precipitous declines in the abundance of fish.

From Nautilus

Mars Hill Church leaders blamed bad publicity for the precipitous drop in attendance and tithes.

From The Daily Beast

That would have been a highly precipitous withdrawal and would have looked suspiciously like defeat.

From The Daily Beast

This sort of precipitous drop can reflect gyrations in the  price of gas.

From The Daily Beast

Part of the reason for this precipitous decline is likely climate change.

From The Daily Beast

The plea deal represents a precipitous fall from grace, writes John Avlon.

From The Daily Beast

Ripperda's equipage wound down a long and twisting defile between two precipitous rocks.

From Project Gutenberg

Subig is a fine natural harbour, but with precipitous shores just as Nature has made it.

From Project Gutenberg

The Prussians held an apparently impregnable position on the Landgrafenberg, a precipitous hill which commanded the town.

From Project Gutenberg

A very shallow sheet of water flowed down over a broad but nowise precipitous ledge of rock into the valley beneath.

From Project Gutenberg

The last cone of the mountain gave us some trouble: the route was very precipitous, and lay over bare, hot masses of rock.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• abrupt
• dizzying
• sharp