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# precipitant

«precipitant» in Mova's school dictionary: **A substance that you add to a liquid to make a solid form…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a precipitant, precipitants); adjective (precipitant — formal, rare)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (science) A substance that you add to a liquid to make a solid form and come out of it (a precipitate). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitant/#m1)

2) (formal) Something that causes an event to happen suddenly, a trigger: «Stress was the precipitant of the argument.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitant/#m2)

3) (formal, rare adjective) Done too quickly, without thinking; rushed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitant/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In chemistry lessons a precipitant is added to a solution so cloudy solid bits appear. In medicine and formal writing it means the trigger of something. In stories it is rare. Phrases: «add a precipitant», «the precipitant of», «a precipitant decision» (rare).

### examples

- The teacher added a precipitant and the clear liquid went cloudy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitant/#x1)
- Salt can act as a precipitant in some experiments. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitant/#x2)
- The heavy rain was the precipitant of the landslide. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitant/#x3)
- Doctors looked for the precipitant of her asthma attack. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitant/#x4)
- His precipitant decision to quit surprised everyone. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitant/#x5)
- A precipitant makes the solid «fall out» of the solution. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitant/#x6)

### note

Countable noun: a precipitant, precipitants. Related words: precipitate (the solid that forms; also to cause suddenly), precipitation (rain, snow and hail, or forming a solid). Easily confused with «precipitate»; the precipitant is what you add, the precipitate is what forms.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «precipitant» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitant/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.