precipitous

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

precipitous

/pɹɪˈsɪpɪtəs/

Where it comes from

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.

adjective

Steep, like a precipice a precipitous cliff
Similar: brant, steepdown, steep-to
Headlong a precipitous fall
Similar: headlong, precipitant
Hasty; rash; quick; sudden precipitous attempts
Similar: heedless

Thesaurus

adjective

Translations

Every language

adj steep, like a precipice

Español	escarpado, precipitoso
中文	陡峭 dǒuqiào, 斷崖式 /断崖式 duànyáshì
Français	abrupt, escarpé, raide
Deutsch	abrupt, abschüssig, jäh, schroff, steil, steilwandig
Русский	отвесный otvesnyj, крутой krutoj

adj headlong

Español	de cabeza
Deutsch	kopfüber

adj hasty; rash; quick; sudden; precipitate

Español	precipitoso
Français	précipité
Deutsch	überstürzt
Русский	стремительный stremitelʹnyj, резкий rezkij

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"precipitous." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/precipitous. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

precipitous. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/precipitous

Chicago

"precipitous." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/precipitous.

BibTeX

@misc{precipitous_2026,
  title = {precipitous},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/precipitous},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}