Word.ws English Dictionary

precipitous

/pɹɪˈsɪpɪtəs/

precipitous adjective: steep, like a precipice.

Adjective

precipitous

  1. Steep, like a precipice
    • a precipitous cliff
    • a precipitous mountain
    Synonyms:
    brant, steepdown, steep-to
  2. Headlong
    • a precipitous fall
  3. Hasty; rash; quick; sudden
    • precipitous attempts
    • […]humans have been responsible for a precipitous decline of elephants, from perhaps 300,000 in the early 1970s to some 10,000 today.2007 March, J. Michael Fay, “Ivory Wars: Last Stand in Zakouma”, in National Geographic, page 46
    Synonyms:
    heedless

precipitous meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

precipitous in Tamil

செங்குத்தான, செந்தூக்கான, தலைகீழான, அவசரமான, நிதானமற்ற, சிந்தனையற்ற

precipitous in Urdu

بےتامل, ڈھلوان, جلد باز, کھڑا

precipitous in Bengali

অত্যন্ত খাড়া, দ্রুত এবং হঠকারী সিদ্ধান্ত, কাজ

precipitous in Malayalam

കടുംതൂക്കായ, കിഴുക്കാംതൂക്കിലുള്ള, പ്രവണതയുള്ള, ചെങ്കുത്തായ, ലക്കില്ലാത്ത
More languagesFewer languages
precipitous in Kannada
ಪ್ರಪಾತದ, ಕಡಿದಾದ ಬಂಡೆಯ, ಅಪಾಯಕಾರಿಯಾಗುವಷ್ಟು ಕಡಿದಾದ

Examples of precipitous in a sentence

  • The weather warm, yet not disagreeably so, the grass abundant and of an excellent quality, the road not greatly precipitous, the scenery enchanting.1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 34:
  • When the wind is in the right direction, hang-gliders launch themselves giddily into space from the precipitous bank.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 102:

All 15 example sentences with precipitous

Synonyms of precipitous

All synonyms of precipitous

Origin of precipitous

From obsolete French précipiteux, from Vulgar Latin *praecipitōsus, from praeceps, praecipit- (“ precipice”) + -ōsus (“-ful, -ous”), from prae- (“before”) + caput (“head”). Equivalent to precipice (“steep cliff, brink”) + -ous.

Words formed from precipitous

Questions about precipitous

What does precipitous mean?
Precipitous means steep, like a precipice.
What is precipitous in Tamil?
Precipitous in Tamil is செங்குத்தான, செந்தூக்கான, தலைகீழான. See Precipitous meaning in Tamil.
How do you use precipitous in a sentence?
The weather warm, yet not disagreeably so, the grass abundant and of an excellent quality, the road not greatly precipitous, the scenery enchanting.
What part of speech is precipitous?
Precipitous is an adjective.
How do you pronounce precipitous?
Precipitous is pronounced /pɹɪˈsɪpɪtəs/.

Words near precipitous in the dictionary

  1. precipitinogen
  2. precipitinogenic
  3. precipitinogens
  4. precipitins
  5. precipitious
  6. precipitous
  7. precipitously
  8. precipitousness
  9. precipitron
  10. precipitrons
  11. precips

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: precipitous (page history and authors); precipitous (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); precipitous (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); precipitous (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); precipitous (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); precipitous (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “precipitous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/precipitous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.