Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Rushing or falling headlong.
- adjective Acting with or marked by impulsiveness in thought or action; rash.
- adjective Abrupt or unexpected; sudden.
- noun A substance that causes a precipitate to form when it is added to a solution.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Falling headlong; headlong.
- Rushing hastily onward.
- Rashly hasty; precipitate; characterized by rapid movement or progress; impatient to reach a conclusion.
- noun In chem., an agent which, when added to a solution, separates something dissolved and causes it to precipitate, or fall to the bottom in a concrete state.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Chem.) Any force or reagent which causes the formation of a precipitate.
- adjective Falling or rushing headlong; rushing swiftly, violently, or recklessly; moving precipitately.
- adjective Unexpectedly or foolishly brought on or hastened; rashly hurried; hasty; sudden; reckless.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective That
falls headlong , or causes a headlong fall - adjective
Rash orimpulsive - adjective
Sudden orunexpected - adjective chemistry That causes
precipitation - noun A substance that forms a
precipitate when added to a solution
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an agent that causes a precipitate to form
- adjective done with very great haste and without due deliberation
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The precipitant was his involvement in an incident of stealing in a department store, following which he was put on probation.
Clinical Work with Adolescents Judith Marks Mishne 1986
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"Unemployment is very often the precipitant or at least a contributor to family homicides," Mr. Fox said.
Mayor Touts 'Safest Decade' Tamer El-Ghobashy 2011
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In my observation, it may even be the prime precipitant of serious distress.
Dr. Ali Binazir: How to Prevent Your Ivy League Child From Becoming Suicidal 2010
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In my observation, it may even be the prime precipitant of serious distress.
Dr. Ali Binazir: How to Prevent Your Ivy League Child From Becoming Suicidal 2010
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Kevin Rexroad, M.D., a psychiatrist in New Mexico, stressed that the pain of divorce should not be underestimated when considering its impact on children or whether it can be factored in as a precipitant to violence:
Judith Acosta, LISW, CHT: Parricide: A Tragic Failure of Attachment (Part I) Judith Acosta 2010
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But there are issues that likely arose between the two of them that may have been part of the precipitant here.
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But there are issues that likely arose between the two of them that may have been part of the precipitant here.
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In The Heart of Addiction, Lance Dodes, M.D., includes a chapter "Addictive Behavior as a Rebellion Against a Punitive Conscience," and writes, "Severe, unrealistic self-criticism is a very common precipitant of addictive behavior."
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America's present day myths (Our Health Care System is the best those inferiors that can't make it are the cause of our being robbed of our rights, Obama is a foreigner, Sotomayor is a racist, if we drill domestically we will be OK) are precipitant arguments which address the needs of those who have to focus on outside bogy men.
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It really didn't matter the immediate precipitant: both sides used their extra fifteen minutes to do just as they wanted, which is not to say both sides deployed the extra time wisely.
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