Word of the Day for 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."

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