precipitate

English

WOTD – 29 November 2007

Alternative forms

• præcipitate (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin praecipitatus, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin praecipitō (“throw down, hurl down, throw headlong”), from praeceps (“head foremost, headlong”), from prae (“before”) + caput (“head”).

Pronunciation

Verb:

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈsɪpɪteɪt/, /pɹəˈsɪpɪteɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective:

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈsɪpɪtət/, /pɹəˈsɪpɪtət/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

common but often proscribed:

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈsɪpɪteɪt/, /pɹəˈsɪpɪteɪt/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Verb

1. (transitive) To make something happen suddenly and quickly.

   Synonyms: advance, accelerate, hasten, speed up

   to precipitate a journey, or a conflict

   it precipitated their success

   • (Can we date this quote by Glover and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Back to his sight precipitates her steps.

   • (Can we date this quote by Francis Bacon and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     If they be daring, it may precipitate their designs, and prove dangerous.

2. (transitive) To throw an object or person from a great height.

   Synonyms: throw, fling, cast; see also Thesaurus:throw

   • (Can we date this quote by Washington Irving and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     She and her horse had been precipitated to the pebbled region of the river.

3. (transitive) To send violently into a certain state or condition.

   we were precipitated into a conflict

4. (intransitive, chemistry) To come out of a liquid solution into solid form.

   Adding the acid will cause the salt to precipitate.

5. (transitive, chemistry) To separate a substance out of a liquid solution into solid form.
6. (intransitive, meteorology) To have water in the air fall to the ground, for example as rain, snow, sleet, or hail; be deposited as condensed droplets.

   Troponyms: rain, snow, hail

   It will precipitate tomorrow, but we don't know whether as rain or snow.

7. (transitive) To cause (water in the air) to condense or fall to the ground.
   • (Can we date this quote by Washington Irving and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     The light vapour of the preceding evening had been precipitated by the cold.

8. (intransitive) To fall headlong.
9. (intransitive) To act too hastily; to be precipitous.

Synonyms

• headlong

Derived terms

Derived terms

• precipitated
• precipitator

• red precipitate
• white precipitate

Related terms

• precipice
• precipitation

Translations

make something happen suddenly and quickly; hasten

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 加速 (zh) (jiāsù), 突然引發, 突然引发 (tūrán yǐnfā)

• Finnish: kiirehtiä (fi), kiihdyttää (fi), nopeuttaa (fi), jouduttaa
• German: vorantreiben (de), beschleunigen (de)
• Greek: επιταχύνω (el) (epitachýno), επισπεύδω (el) (epispévdo)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: felgyorsít (hu), elősegít (hu)
• Japanese: 促進する (saishin suru)
• Maori: whakauruhi
• Romanian: accelera (ro), precipita (ro), grăbi (ro)
• Russian: ускорять (ru) impf (uskorjatʹ), ускорить (ru) pf (uskoritʹ)

To throw an object or person from a great height

• Finnish: syöstä (fi), paiskata (fi)
• German: stürzen (de), herabstürzen (de), hinabwerfen
• Greek: κατακρημνίζω (el) (katakrimnízo), γκρεμίζω (el) (gkremízo)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Quechua: chanqaykuy
• Spanish: tirar abajo, arrojar (es), precipitar (es)

To send violently into a certain state or condition

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 促使 (zh) (cùshǐ), 突然 (zh) (tūrán)陷入 (zh) (xiànrù)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: syöstä (fi)
• Greek: κατακρημνίζω (el) (katakrimnízo)
• Russian: втянуть (ru) pf (vtjanutʹ), ввергать (ru) impf (vvergatʹ)

To come out of a liquid solution into solid form

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沉澱／沉淀 (zh) (chéndiàn)

• Finnish: saostua
• French: précipiter (fr)
• German: niederschlagen (de), ausfällen
• Greek: κατακαθίζω (el) (katakathízo)
• Hungarian: kicsapódik (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: whakahuatoka
• Romanian: precipita (ro), condensa (ro)
• Russian: выпадать в осадок impf (vypadatʹ v osadok), осаждаться (ru) impf (osaždatʹsja)
• Spanish: condensar (es), precipitar (es)

To separate out of a liquid solution into solid form

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沉澱／沉淀 (zh) (chéndiàn)

• Finnish: saostaa
• German: ausfällen
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: kicsap (hu)
• Maori: whakahuatoka
• Romanian: a se depune, precipita (ro)
• Slovak: vyzrážať

To have water in the air fall to the ground

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 降雨 (zh) (jiàngyǔ)

• Finnish: sataa (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: comhdhlúthaigh
• Maori: tōtāwairehu

Adjective

precipitate (comparative more precipitate, superlative most precipitate)

1. headlong; falling steeply or vertically.
   • 1718, Matthew Prior, Solomon, book 2, lines 853–854:

     When the full stores their ancient bounds disdain, / Precipitate the furious torrent flows.

2. Very steep; precipitous.
3. With a hasty impulse; hurried; headstrong.
4. Moving with excessive speed or haste.

   The king was too precipitate in declaring war.

   a precipitate case of disease

5. Performed very rapidly or abruptly.
   • 1931, H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft, chapter 6, in The Whisperer in Darkness:

     It had cost me a distinct psychological effort to do so, and now that I was shut inside I had a momentary longing for precipitate retreat.

Synonyms

• (headlong): headlong, precipitant, precipitous
• (very steep): brant
• (with a hasty impulse): hotheaded, impetuous, rash; see also Thesaurus:reckless
• (performed very rapidly or abruptly): abrupt, precipitous, subitaneous; see also Thesaurus:sudden

Derived terms

• precipitately
• precipitateness

Translations

Headlong; falling steeply or vertically

• Finnish: kohtisuora (fi), äkkijyrkkä (fi), syöksyvä (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Very steep; precipitous

• Finnish: äkkijyrkkä (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: απόκρημνος (el) m (apókrimnos)

With a hasty impulse; hurried; headstrong

• Danish: overilet
• Finnish: hätiköity
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: mear

Moving with excessive speed or haste

• Finnish: hätäinen
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: ταχύς (el) m (tachýs), βιαστικός (el) m (viastikós)

Performed very rapidly or abruptly

• Finnish: hätiköity
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: εσπευσμένος (el) m (espefsménos)

Etymology 2

From New Latin praecipitatum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈsɪpɪtət/, /pɹəˈsɪpɪtət/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈsɪpɪteɪt/, /pɹəˈsɪpɪteɪt/

Noun

precipitate (plural precipitates)

1. a product resulting from a process, event, or course of action
2. (chemistry) a solid that exits the liquid phase of a solution

Translations

product

• Finnish: tulos (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: ίζημα (el) n (ízima)

chemistry: solid that exits the liquid phase of a solution

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沉澱物／沉淀物 (zh) (chéndiànwù)

• Czech: sraženina f
• Danish: bundfald n
• Finnish: saos, saostuma
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: καθίζημα n (kathízima)
• Maori: huatoka
• Russian: оса́док (ru) m (osádok)
• Tagalog: himuo
• Turkish: çökelti (tr), tortu (tr), çökelek (tr)

Related terms

• precipitous

Further reading

• “precipitate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “precipitate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “precipitate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Peripatetic, peripatetic

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Italian

Adjective

precipitate f pl

1. (deprecated template usage) Feminine plural of adjective precipitato.

Verb 1

precipitate

1. second-person plural present of precipitare
2. second-person plural imperative of precipitare

Verb 2

precipitate f pl

1. feminine plural past participle of precipitare