precipitous.

1. Falling or rising very steeply, often with an abrupt drop.

2. Done with undue haste and insufficient consideration.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a precipitous slope
• a precipitous drop

On the page

The path ended at a precipitous slope hidden by the grass.

A precipitous drop in attendance emptied the rear rows.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Comparative more precipitous; superlative most precipitous where gradation is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.