precipice
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About Our Definitions: All forms of a word (noun, verb, etc.) are now displayed on one page.prec·i·pice
noun \ˈpre-s(ə-)pəs\Definition of PRECIPICE
1
: a very steep or overhanging place
2
: a hazardous situation; broadly : brink
See Examples of PRECIPICE
- He stood on the edge of the precipice.
- <scaled the steep precipice with the ease of an experienced climber>
- Twenty years ago, it seemed unlikely that black and white South Africans could avoid a cataclysmic struggle. How did we manage to turn back from the precipice and join one another in the long walk to a nonracial democracy? —F. W. De Klerk, Time, 18 Apr. 2005
- These are the brave, friendly guys and gals who flip, twist, spin and somersault themselves backward into the sky and somehow land on a horrifyingly steep precipice without rearranging their rib cages or breaking their faces. —Curry Kirkpatrick, Newsweek, 21 Feb. 1994
- … the helpless Cambodians were bused from the safety of a refugee camp to an outcropping along the border several hundred miles to the northeast, where they were forced over the precipice into a wild and inaccessible part of Cambodia from which it would be almost impossible to return to Thailand. —Barbara Crossette, New York Times Book Review, 2 Aug. 1987
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Origin of PRECIPICE
French, from Middle French, from Latin praecipitium, from praecipit-, praeceps headlong, from prae- + caput head — more at head
First Known Use: 1613
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