SUPREME WORD OF THE WEEK: PRECIPITOUS
PRONUNCIATION:
(pri-SIP-i-tuhs)
MEANING:
adjective:
1. Resembling a precipice, a cliff with a nearly vertical overhanging face.
2. Extremely steep.
3. Abrupt, rapid, or hasty (applied to a worsening situation).
1. Resembling a precipice, a cliff with a nearly vertical overhanging face.
2. Extremely steep.
3. Abrupt, rapid, or hasty (applied to a worsening situation).
ETYMOLOGY:
From obsolete French précipiteux, from Latin praecipitare (to cast down headlong), from prae- (before) + caput (head). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kaput- (head), also the origin of head, captain, chef, chapter, cadet, cattle, chattel, achieve, biceps, mischief, occiput, recapitulate, and capitation. Earliest documented use: 1646.
USAGE:
“I’ve always had a weakness for lost causes and for writers who achieved some acclaim and then experienced a precipitous fall from grace.”
Guy Vanderhaeghe; I Wanted to Return to the Darting, Glimmering Light of Short Fiction; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); May 2, 2015.
Guy Vanderhaeghe; I Wanted to Return to the Darting, Glimmering Light of Short Fiction; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); May 2, 2015.
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