precipitous

precipitous
    adj 1: done with very great haste and without due deliberation;
           "hasty marriage seldom proveth well"- Shakespeare; "hasty
           makeshifts take the place of planning"- Arthur Geddes;
           "rejected what was regarded as an overhasty plan for
           reconversion"; "wondered whether they had been rather
           precipitate in deposing the king" [syn: {hasty},
           {overhasty}, {precipitate}, {precipitant}, {precipitous}]
    2: extremely steep; "an abrupt canyon"; "the precipitous rapids
       of the upper river"; "the precipitous hills of Chinese
       paintings"; "a sharp drop" [syn: {abrupt}, {precipitous},
       {sharp}]
    

Precipitous \Pre*cip"i*tous\, a. [L. praeceps, -cipitis: cf. OF.
   precipiteux. See {Precipice}.]
   1. Steep, like a precipice; as, a precipitous cliff or
      mountain.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Headlong; as, precipitous fall.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Hasty; rash; quick; sudden; precipitate; as, precipitous
      attempts. --Sir T. Browne. "Marian's low, precipitous
      `Hush!'" --Mrs. Browning.
      [1913 Webster] -- {Pre*cip"i*tous*ly}, adv. --
      {Pre*cip"i*tous*ness}, n.
      [1913 Webster]
    

66 Moby Thesaurus words for "precipitous":
      abrupt, accident-prone, acclivitous, arduous, bluff, bold,
      breakneck, breathless, careless, declivitous, desperate,
      devil-may-care, electrifying, furious, harum-scarum, hasty,
      headlong, hotheaded, hurried, impetuous, impulsive, mad,
      nerve-shattering, orthodiagonal, orthogonal, overeager,
      overenthusiastic, overzealous, panting, perpendicular, plumb,
      plunging, precipitant, precipitate, quick, rapid, rash, reckless,
      right-angle, right-angled, right-angular, rushing, sharp, sheer,
      shocking, sideling, slap-bang, slapdash, speedy, startling, steep,
      stickle, straight-up, straight-up-and-down, sudden, surprising,
      swift, unanticipated, unexpected, unforeseen, unlooked-for,
      unpredicted, up-and-down, vertical, wanton, wild