Pick the formal, serious, dramatic word "precipitous" to emphasize how suddenly and sharply something drops, falls, or just happens.

To use the literal meaning, talk about precipitous drops, falls, collapses, hills, mountainsides, slopes, cliffs, edges, and streets. "We drove up precipitous roads to get to the mountaintop observatory, wondering if our struggling rental car would even make it."

To be less literal, talk about precipitous drops or declines in abstract things, like prices, values, crime rates, or even reputations. "After a precipitous drop in the Mortgage Credit Availability Index, Americans struggled to buy homes." 

Precipitous things generally go down, not up. But on rare occasions, we do talk about precipitous rises, or precipitous upward climbs, connoting a steepness that's difficult or even dangerous. Here's the Los Angeles Times: "Developing any Broadway musical is a steep climb that becomes more precipitous when dealing with a legend as emotionally complicated, well known and tragic as [Marilyn Monroe]."

"The flagpole bearing the Stars and Stripes sticks out of the ground at a precipitous angle, like a javelin that made a bad landing."
 — Jesse Green, New York Times, 28 June 2023

"In the 1990s, the elephants' numbers began to precipitously drop thanks to human activity like land use, political conflict and poaching."
— Matthew Rozsa, Salon, 6 February 2024

has this page helped you understand "precipitous"?

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Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "precipitous" without saying "steep" or "hasty."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Some particular story) begins with the precipitous arrival of (some unexpected person or event)."

Example 1: "Episode 2.16 of Futurama begins with the precipitous and erroneous arrival of a fishing license. 'And it's mandatory!'"

Example 2: "[Gary Shteyngart's novel Our Country Friends] opens in March 2020 with the precipitous arrival in the bucolic Hudson Valley of a group of middle-aged friends who have fled Manhattan to escape covid’s bleak, menacing hold on the city."
— Diane Cole, Washington Post, 2 November 2021

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is "Stop, Drop, & Anagram!"

I’ll give you an 8-letter word, along with a quote with a blank in it. Your job is to drop a letter from the word, then reassemble it into the 7-letter word that fits meaningfully into the blank. You'll find the answer at the bottom of the issue. Enjoy!

Try this one today:

AMBIVERT.

"Hagrid kicked the motorbike into life: It roared like a dragon, and the sidecar began to _______."
— J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, 2007

review this word:

1. The opposite of PRECIPITOUS could be

A. GORGING.
B. GRADUAL.
C. GENEROUS.

2. In a melody, you might call a transition between two notes "precipitous" if _____.

A. they blend together seamlessly
B. the singer bounces playfully between the two notes again and again
C. the first note plummets unexpectedly a full octave down into the second note

Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. C Answer to the game question: AMBIVERT becomes VIBRATE: "Hagrid kicked the motorbike into life: It roared like a dragon, and the sidecar began to vibrate." — J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, 2007

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.