pre·cip·i·tous

(prĭ-sĭp′ĭ-təs)

adj.

1. Resembling a precipice; extremely steep. See Synonyms at steep¹.

2. Having several precipices: a precipitous bluff.

3. Extremely rapid, hasty, or abrupt; precipitate: a precipitous collapse in prices. See Usage Note at precipitate.

[Probably from obsolete precipitious, from Latin praecipitium, precipice; see precipice.]

pre·cip′i·tous·ly adv.

pre·cip′i·tous·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	precipitousness - the property possessed by a slope that is very steep steepness, abruptness gradient, slope - the property possessed by a line or surface that departs from the horizontal; "a five-degree gradient"
	2.	precipitousness - the quality of happening with headlong haste or without warning precipitance, precipitancy, precipitateness, suddenness, abruptness haste, hastiness, hurriedness, hurry, precipitation - overly eager speed (and possible carelessness); "he soon regretted his haste"

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References in periodicals archive

It is surely significant that she is alone in the aftermath, wandering the streets of Warsaw and pointedly not in church with Krzysztof, now apparently stripped of the consolation that she perhaps complacently felt assured of earlier in the episode: "God is very simple if you have faith." "Complacently" is perhaps appropriate if her characterization of faith appears to be untroubled by doubt in the way that Krzysztof is touched by doubts of his secularism--her faith would be all the more fragile if this were so, and might further explain, beyond the magnitude of the loss of Pawel itself, the precipitousness of her retreat from that confidence.

Faith, doubt, and chiasmus in Krzysztof Kieslowski's Decalogue I

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What was so stunning about the debt markets' decline was not just their unexpected suddenness but the precipitousness of the fall.

Is the easy credit party over? From euphoria and record deal levels just a few months ago, the corporate loan and bond markets are suffering something like a whopping hangover. The days of "covenant-lite" have ended as investors are shunning riskier loans and demanding tougher terms

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