precipitate
verb (formal)Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they precipitate | |
he / she / it precipitates | |
past simple precipitated | |
past participle precipitated | |
-ing form precipitating |
- precipitate something
to make something, especially something bad, happen suddenly or sooner than it should synonym bring on, spark (1)使…突然降临;加速(坏事的发生) - precipitate somebody/something into something
to suddenly force somebody/something into a particular state or condition 使突然陷入(某种状态)
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.).