precipitation

Language: en

🇬🇧 /prɪˌsɪpɪˈteɪʃən/ 🇺🇸 /prɪˌsɪpɪˈteɪʃən/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    Any form of water, liquid or solid, that falls from the atmosphere and reaches the ground, including rain, snow, sleet, and hail.; The process in chemistry by which a dissolved substance comes out of solution as a solid, forming a precipitate.; The act of doing something hastily or rashly; undue haste or suddenness.; The act of throwing or hurling something downward from a height.; In meteorology, the amount of water equivalent deposited over a given area in a specified period.

🔗 Details

Word forms

countable / uncountable Plural: precipitations

Collocations

heavy precipitationannual precipitationtotal precipitationatmospheric precipitationprecipitation reaction

Derivatives

precipitateprecipitousprecipitouslyprecipitantprecipitator

Synonyms

rainfallraindownpoursedimentation

Antonyms

evaporation

Commonly confused

precipitate
EN: 'Precipitate' is the verb (to cause to happen suddenly) or adjective (hasty), while 'precipitation' is the noun form referring to the process or result.
precipitous
EN: 'Precipitous' means dangerously steep or sudden, while 'precipitation' refers to rain/snow or a chemical process.

Spelling tips

EN: Remember the 'ci' after 'pre' and the 't' before 'ation': pre-ci-pi-ta-tion. A common error is dropping the second 'i' or the 't'.

💬 Examples

  1. The region received very little precipitation during the drought, leading to crop failures.

  2. The precipitation of silver chloride occurred when the two solutions were mixed.

  3. His precipitation in making the decision led to several costly mistakes.

  4. The precipitation of the boulder from the cliff sent it crashing into the valley below.

  5. Annual precipitation in the tropical rainforest exceeds 200 centimeters.