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precipitate

UK/pɹɪˈsɪpɪteɪt/US/pɹɪˈsɪpɪteɪt/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,745 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: precipitates

A precipitate is a solid that appears out of a solution. Form a precipitate, a white precipitate, filter off the precipitate.

Watching one appear is the classic school demonstration that a reaction has happened. As a verb it also means to bring something on suddenly, and as an adjective, stressed differently, it means hasty.

ZabMilenko: orginal ZooFari: vector Mrmw: optimized, multilang · CC0

Definitions of precipitate

  1. 1nounprecipitateA solid that appears out of a solution.C1

    “When the two clear liquids were mixed, a white precipitate formed at the bottom of the test tube.”

precipitate is a solid.

Where it comes from

Latin praecipitare means to throw headlong, from praeceps, head first.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *kap-

  2. Latin

    praecipitātus

  3. English, today

    precipitate

Built from

  • praecipitō · Latin — throw down, hurl down, throw headlong
  • praeceps · Latin — head foremost, headlong

From Latin praecipitātus, perfect passive participle of praecipitō (“throw down, hurl down, throw headlong”) (see -ate for more), from praeceps (“head foremost, headlong”) (praecipit- in its oblique stem), from prae + -ceps.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Chemistry & Elements

Practise this word

precipitate in the wild

  • When this occurs through the air's contact with a colder surface, the precipitate on that surface is dew.

    Dew point

  • In the test, an excess of manganese(II) salt, iodide and hydroxide ions are added to a water sample, causing a white precipitate of Mn(OH)2 to form.

    Winkler titration

  • The brown precipitate then converts the iodide ion to iodine.

    Winkler titration

  • A positive result of Benedict's test is indicated by a color change from clear blue to brick-red with a precipitate.

    Benedict's reagent

  • Oxidizing the reducing sugar by the cupric (Cu2+) complex of the reagent produces a cuprous (Cu+), which precipitates as insoluble red copper(I) oxide (Cu2O).

    Benedict's reagent

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

Related words

the praeceps family

precipiceprecipitate

precipitate — used about once every 27,725 pages · #13,745 · point at the bar for the others