precipitation
/pɹɪˌsɪpɪˈteɪʃn̩/ noun C1- Any or all of the forms of water particles, whether liquid or solid, that fall from the upper atmosphere (e.g., rain, hail, snow or sleet). It is a major class of hydrometeor, but it is distinguished from cloud, fog, dew, rime, frost, etc., in that it must fall. It is distinguished from cloud and virga in that it must reach the ground.
- The amount of water precipitated in any form.
- A hurried headlong fall.
- A reaction that leads to the formation of a heavier, and often less soluble, solid in a lighter liquid; the precipitate so formed at the bottom of the container.
- Unwise or rash rapidity; sudden haste.
Plural precipitations
From the library
He hastily tore off the cover, opened the journal with nervous precipitation, passed contemptuously over the Paris jottings, and arriving at the miscellaneous intelligence, stopped with a malicious smile, at a paragraph headed
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