pre|cip´i|ta´tor

pre|cip|i|tate «verb. prih SIHP uh tayt; adjective, noun. prih SIHP uh tayt, -tiht», verb, -tat|ed, -tat|ing, adjective, noun.

–v.t.

1. to hasten the beginning of; bring about suddenly: »

to precipitate a war, to precipitate an argument; ... the depression of the forties which had precipitated the events of '48 (Edmund Wilson).

2. to throw down, hurl, or plunge in a violent or sudden manner: »

to precipitate a rock down a cliff, Figurative. to precipitate oneself into a struggle.

3. to separate (a substance) out from a solution as a solid: »

The plate was prepared by the all but impossible process of precipitating silver chloride from solution (A. W. Haslett).

4. to condense (water vapor) from the air in the form of rain, dew, or snow.

–v.i.

1. to be deposited from solution as a solid.

2. to be condensed as rain, dew, or snow.

3. Figurative. to rush headlong.

4. Obsolete. to fall headlong.

╂[< Latin praecipitāre (with English -ate¹) < praeceps, -cipitis headlong; see etym. under precipice (Cf. ↑precipice)]

–adj.

1. very hurried; sudden: »

A cool breeze caused a precipitate drop in the temperature.

2. Figurative. with great haste and force; plunging or rushing; headlong: »

the precipitate course of a river through a steep gorge.

3. hasty; rash: »

precipitate action.

–n.

1. a substance, usually crystalline, separated out from a solution as a solid.

2. moisture condensed from vapor by cooling and deposited in drops as rain, dew, or the like.

╂[< New Latin praecipitatum, neuter noun, < Latin praecipitāre; see the verb]

–pre|cip´i|tate´ly, adverb.

–pre|cip´i|tate´ness, noun.

–pre|cip´i|ta´tor, noun.