precipitous

From obsolete French précipiteux, from Vulgar Latin *praecipitosus. Equivalent to precipice (“steep”) +‎ -ous.

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈsɪpɪtəs/

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precipitous

1. Steep, like a precipice

   a precipitous cliff

   a precipitous mountain

   a precipitous decline

   a precipitous drop

2. Headlong

   a precipitous fall

3. Hasty; rash; quick; sudden

   precipitous attempts

   • 2007 March, Fay, J. Michael, “Ivory Wars: Last Stand in Zakouma”, in National Geographic, page 46:

     […] humans have been responsible for a precipitous decline of elephants, from perhaps 300,000 in the early 1970s to some 10,000 today.

• (steep): brant, steep-to
• (headlong): headlong, precipitant, precipitous
• (hasty, rash): heedless, hotheaded, impetuous; see also Thesaurus:reckless
• (sudden): abrupt, precipitous, subitaneous; see also Thesaurus:sudden

• “precipitous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.