Word of the Day Archive
Thursday July 26, 2012
precipitancy \pri-SIP-i-tuhn-see\
, noun:
1. Headlong or rash haste.
2. The quality or state of being precipitant.
3. Precipitancies, hasty or rash acts.
There is one thing I think it my duty to caution you against: the precipitancy with which young men frequently rush into matrimonial engagements, and by their thoughtlessness draw many a deserving woman into scenes of poverty and distress.
-- Susanna Rowson, Charlotte Temple
The police authorities have acted in this matter with undue precipitancy.
-- Joseph Smith Fletcher, Green Ink and Other Stories
Precipitancy comes from the Latin word praecipitāre meaning "to cast down headlong."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for precipitancy
