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# precipitation

noun (precipitation — uncountable; science: a precipitation)

«precipitation» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Water that falls from clouds to the ground in any form: rain, snow, sleet or hail. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitation/#m1)
2. The amount of rain or snow that falls in a place over a time. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitation/#m2)
3. (chemistry) When a solid forms in a liquid and separates out. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitation/#m3)

### In the lessons

In science and geography, precipitation is one of the four main stages of the water cycle: evaporation, condensation (clouds form), precipitation (water falls), collection (rivers, lakes, seas). Weather forecasts give the chance of precipitation as a percentage. In maths and science, rainfall is measured in millimetres with a rain gauge and shown in bar charts. Phrases: chance of precipitation, annual precipitation, the water cycle.

### Examples

- Rain, snow, sleet and hail are all kinds of precipitation. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitation/#x1)
- Precipitation is part of the water cycle. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitation/#x2)
- The forecast says there is a 70% chance of precipitation. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitation/#x3)
- Deserts get very little precipitation. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitation/#x4)
- We measured precipitation with a rain gauge on the school field. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitation/#x5)
- Clouds make precipitation when the water droplets get too heavy. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitation/#x6)
- The bar chart shows how much precipitation fell each month. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitation/#x7)

### Note

It is a science word; in everyday talk people say «rain» or «snow». Uncountable: «a lot of precipitation», not «precipitations». Maths: «70% chance of precipitation» means it is more likely to rain than not, but not certain.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «precipitation» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/precipitation/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«precipitation» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/precipitation.html) on Mova free.