1
as in hurried
acting or done with excessive or careless speed
soon regretted our precipitous actions in international affairs
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2
as in steep
having an incline approaching the perpendicular
a precipitous ski slope that fully merits its triple diamond designation
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Recent Examples of precipitous
Tesla’s profits plummeted 71% over the first three months of the year, with reputation rankings showing a similarly precipitous drop amongst consumers.
—
Michael Wilner, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2025
But the company’s electric vehicle sales nosedived, with a 25% overall decrease, brought down by a precipitous 41.7% drop in sales for its F-150 Lightning EV.
—Ben Kesslen, Quartz, 3 June 2025
Corn, 55, is smack in the middle of that 52-57 age bracket when women experience precipitous bone density loss but received her diagnosis at 40.
—Jia H. Jung, Mercury News, 4 June 2025
Meanwhile, the overall manufacturing employment is slightly below 2019 levels despite a precipitous increase in the working-age population since then.
—Tiana Lowe Doescher, The Washington Examiner, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for precipitous
Michael Wilner, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2025
But the company’s electric vehicle sales nosedived, with a 25% overall decrease, brought down by a precipitous 41.7% drop in sales for its F-150 Lightning EV.
—Ben Kesslen, Quartz, 3 June 2025
Corn, 55, is smack in the middle of that 52-57 age bracket when women experience precipitous bone density loss but received her diagnosis at 40.
—Jia H. Jung, Mercury News, 4 June 2025
Meanwhile, the overall manufacturing employment is slightly below 2019 levels despite a precipitous increase in the working-age population since then.
—Tiana Lowe Doescher, The Washington Examiner, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for precipitous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for precipitous
Adjective
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After a hurried recovery period in his upstate hospital, Dexter heads to New York City, where his son Harrison (Jack Alcott) has moved.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
10 July 2025
-
Here’s how Kansas and Missouri representatives and senators voted in the hurried push to pass President Trump’s massive, controversial spending bill.—
Matthew Kelly,
Kansas City Star,
9 July 2025
Adjective
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The vertiginous fall of home prices in Austin, Texas, seems to have no end in sight, according to experts who believe that steep declines are likely to continue in the coming months.—
Giulia Carbonaro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
14 July 2025
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In addition to Tha Carter III, Wayne’s recent release Tha Carter VI drops from No. 47 to No. 124, a steep decline just a month into its run.—
Hugh McIntyre,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
Adjective
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In one particularly raw moment, a woman studying the photographs let out a sudden shriek.—
Michael Dorgan,
FOXNews.com,
12 July 2025
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The tragedy in Ruidoso highlights growing concerns about increasingly intense weather systems striking communities with little time to prepare for sudden surges of water.—
Martha McHardy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 July 2025
Adjective
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Outfits that once felt aspirational quickly become irrelevant, leaving behind a cycle of impulsive purchases, lukewarm satisfaction, and the constant itch for reinvention.—
Jailynn Taylor,
Essence,
8 July 2025
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Back in 1937, Winfield James, Harry Caldwell and Jimmy Pickard — three impulsive teens from Abilene, just out of high school and trying to avoid summer jobs — paddled a small canoe some 660 miles down the Colorado from Ballinger, Texas, to the Gulf of Mexico.—
Michael Barnes,
Austin American Statesman,
2 July 2025
Adjective
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This momentary pause, this saving interruption of the headlong, breathless trajectory of rape or murder, admitted a kind of compassion, pity, even tenderness, halting injustice in its tracks.—
Sarah Beckwith,
New Yorker,
26 May 2025
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But swirling around it are immigration restrictions, headlong and haphazard reductions in Federal spending and a separate but related confidence shock weighing on consumer behavior.—
Michael Santoli,
CNBC,
22 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The Supreme Court knows this also, hence its hasty and premature dicta insulating members of the Federal Reserve Board from removal.—
George Liebmann,
Baltimore Sun,
2 July 2025
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And the hasty budget changes mean some people will get hurt.—
Zoë Schlanger,
The Atlantic,
11 June 2025
Adjective
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Those symptoms include fever, cough, rash, watery eyes, runny nose and small white spots inside the mouth and throat.—
Austin American Statesman,
Austin American Statesman,
2 July 2025
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There's no need to really make a decision -- a rash decision -- because the guy doesn't want to go to some OTAs.—
DJ Siddiqi,
Forbes.com,
1 July 2025
Adjective
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Alleged stabber Larry Boards is facing two counts of felony assault, reckless endangerment, and harassment for the crazed confrontation at the 82nd St.-Jackson Heights No. 7 train station at about 4:15 p.m. Friday, cops said.—
Thomas Tracy,
New York Daily News,
12 July 2025
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Broadly, the search warrant describes the crimes as first-degree intentional homicide and reckless endangering of safety by use of a deadly weapon.—
Claudia Levens,
jsonline.com,
10 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Precipitous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/precipitous. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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