precipitate
verb/prɪˈsɪpɪteɪt/
/prɪˈsɪpɪteɪt/
(formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they precipitate | /prɪˈsɪpɪteɪt/ /prɪˈsɪpɪteɪt/ |
| he / she / it precipitates | /prɪˈsɪpɪteɪts/ /prɪˈsɪpɪteɪts/ |
| past simple precipitated | /prɪˈsɪpɪteɪtɪd/ /prɪˈsɪpɪteɪtɪd/ |
| past participle precipitated | /prɪˈsɪpɪteɪtɪd/ /prɪˈsɪpɪteɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form precipitating | /prɪˈsɪpɪteɪtɪŋ/ /prɪˈsɪpɪteɪtɪŋ/ |
- precipitate something to make something, especially something bad, happen suddenly or sooner than it should synonym bring on, spark (1)
- His resignation precipitated a leadership crisis.
- precipitate somebody/something into something to suddenly force somebody/something into a particular state or condition
- The assassination of the president precipitated the country into war.
Word Originearly 16th cent.: from Latin praecipitat- ‘thrown headlong’, from the verb praecipitare, from praeceps, praecip(it)- ‘headlong’, from prae ‘before’ + caput ‘head’. The original sense of the verb was ‘hurl down, send violently’; hence ‘cause to move rapidly’, which gave rise to the current verb and noun senses (early 17th cent.).
Check pronunciation:
precipitate