Literary notes about precipitously (AI summary)
The term precipitously is often employed to evoke a sense of sudden, dramatic change, whether depicting physical landscapes or abstract transitions. Writers use it to illustrate sharp drops or steep ascents in nature—for instance, the ground tumbling away on either side of a ravine ([1]), steep cliffs plunging into the sea ([2], [3]), or mountains rising sharply from their bases ([4]). In other contexts, the word underscores rapid declines or hastened actions, such as plummeting asset prices ([5]), the abrupt fall in scurvy incidence ([6]), or even characters’ swift departures from a scene ([7]). Through these varied uses, precipitously imbues the narrative with intensity and immediacy.
- On each side of it, the ground precipitously descended, on the one hand to the Don, on the other to the bottom of the ravine where flowed the brook.
— from Toronto of Old by Henry Scadding - The shore descended precipitously to the sea, almost from its very walls, and down below, with incessant murmur, plashed the dark-blue waves.
— from A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Iurevich Lermontov - It stands on a rocky headland, which descends almost precipitously to the Avon.
— from The Rivers of Great Britain, Descriptive, Historical, Pictorial: Rivers of the South and West Coasts by Various - Rising somewhat precipitously almost out of the sea, three ridges extended far back into the country, with deep ravines between.
— from The Inn at the Red Oak by Latta Griswold - The prices of assets collapse precipitously.
— from After the Rain : how the West lost the East by Samuel Vaknin - As the result of a regular ration of lemon juice, the incidence of scurvy fell precipitously.
— from Scurvy, Past and Present by Alfred F. Hess - "After which," said Stacey, "we left somewhat precipitously, if not graciously.
— from Operation Interstellar by George O. (George Oliver) Smith
