How to Use precipitous in a Sentence

precipitous

adjective
  • There has been a precipitous decline in home sales recently.
  • People were shocked by his precipitous fall from political power.
  • That was the start of a precipitous decline for the Italian, who comes in ranked 203rd in the world.
    — Ben Nuckols, Baltimore Sun, 4 May 2022
  • Jannek, about 10 steps in the lead, and the lightest, made it across the precipitous slope to a stand of trees.
    — Kelzim, Longreads, 19 Feb. 2022
  • That's a precipitous fall from sixth last year and eighth the year before.
    — Jr Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 29 July 2019
  • Out to the right, a precipitous drop swiftly turned the seabed from sand to grass, a secret grove of turtles.
    — Hannah Selinger, Travel + Leisure, 20 Feb. 2023
  • And what’s up with Deb, the third cha-cha babe, who’s losing parts of her mind at a precipitous rate?
    — Beth Kephart, Philly.com, 6 July 2018
  • The precipitous drop transformed the economy, and has a long way to go.
    — Aurora Almendral, Quartz, 4 Feb. 2022
  • That felt both precipitous and ominous at the same time.
    — Nick Romano, EW.com, 15 Apr. 2021
  • The power of the Kennedy name has also been in precipitous decline at the ballot box for years.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 17 July 2023
  • Since then, it's been a precipitous drop down the leaderboard.
    — Brendan Marks, charlotteobserver, 21 June 2018
  • And finally, on the morning of this event and precipitous trim, the name of the brand is announced: Cécred.
    — Jessica Cruel, Allure, 20 Feb. 2024
  • Their precipitous fall began, of course, with a New Year’s Eve loss on Xavier’s home court.
    — Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 30 Jan. 2023
  • The impact, combined with a precipitous fall in the oil price, caused the value of the ruble to fall by half against the dollar that year.
    — Anatoly Kurmanaev, WSJ, 20 Aug. 2018
  • Because of the precipitous fall in the value of the Ruble, millions of Russians lost a huge chunk of their net worth.
    — Fortune, 28 Feb. 2022
  • First, there was a precipitous spike around the election.
    — Brian Levin, James J. Nolan, CBS News, 26 June 2018
  • The change coincides with a precipitous drop in sea ice cover around the same time.
    — Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Apr. 2021
  • But as the omicron wave peaked and began a precipitous descent, so did the urgency for the shots.
    — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 14 Mar. 2022
  • This would mark a precipitous fall for Thibodeaux, who could be in play as early as No. 2.
    — Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz, USA TODAY, 28 Apr. 2022
  • There’s then a precipitous drop-off to a third tier that includes plays ranked five through seven.
    — Mike Fischer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 16 Feb. 2018
  • The mother struggled to put food on the table after the precipitous loss of income.
    — Megan Sandel and Charlotte Bruce, STAT, 28 Mar. 2023
  • Everywhere is the scent of Le Labo Santal 26 and a precipitous view.
    — Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, 7 Feb. 2022
  • His fall from grace was one of the most rapid and precipitous in recent NBA history.
    — Mike Bianchi, orlandosentinel.com, 22 Sep. 2020
  • Prices have remained steady, though, after a precipitous drop over the last two months.
    — John Steppe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 29 Apr. 2020
  • What is the stock market telling us with its precipitous drop over the last several days?
    — Neil Irwin, New York Times, 6 Feb. 2018
  • While video streams were up in the week following the verdict, there will likely be a precipitous drop-off in the coming days.
    — Emily Blake, Rolling Stone, 8 Oct. 2021
  • But this one is remarkable for how precipitous the drop was.
    — Stephanie Apstein, SI.com, 27 June 2019
  • There was a precipitous 1,000-foot drop to either side.
    — Mark Jenkins, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Apr. 2024
  • Summer sun breaks reveal vistas of precipitous slopes mantled in deep green grasses — with distant volcanic peaks shrouded in snow.
    — ProPublica, 13 Feb. 2025
  • Goldin adds another factor into the mix to explain why some countries have seen a more precipitous decline in birth rates and others have only seen slower declines: the speed of economic growth.
    — Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 28 Jan. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'precipitous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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