What's the difference between abrupt and precipitous?

Abrupt


Definition:

  • (a.) Broken off; very steep, or craggy, as rocks, precipices, banks; precipitous; steep; as, abrupt places.
  • (a.) Without notice to prepare the mind for the event; sudden; hasty; unceremonious.
  • (a.) Having sudden transitions from one subject to another; unconnected.
  • (a.) Suddenly terminating, as if cut off.
  • (n.) An abrupt place.
  • (v. t.) To tear off or asunder.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) These two types of transfer functions are appropriate to explain the transition to anaerobic metabolism (anaerobic threshold), with a hyperbolic transfer characteristic representing a graded transition; and a sigmoid transfer characteristic representing an abrupt transition.
  • (2) Abruptly changing cows from one feeding system to another did not influence milk yield, milk composition, or body weight gain.
  • (3) Interphase death thus involves a discrete, abrupt transition from the normal state and is not merely the consequence of progressive and degenerative changes.
  • (4) NPR reported that investigators have not found telltale signs associated with Islamist radicalization , such as a change in mosques or abrupt shifts in behavior or family associations.
  • (5) Echocardiographic findings included an abrupt midsystolic, posterior motion (greater than 3 mm beyond the CD line) in five patients, multiple sequence echoes in six, and posterior coaptation of the mitral valve near the left atrial wall in six.
  • (6) 1) The incidence of premature rupture of the membranes (PROM), threatened premature delivery, toxemia and abruption placentae were 40.6, 36.4, 7.8 and 3.0%, respectively.
  • (7) The present report details an unusual patient with "occult temporal arteritis" who sustained abrupt monocular visual loss and subsequent ipsilateral ophthalmoplegia involving all functions of the oculomotor nerve.
  • (8) The stiffness of the fibre first rose abruptly in response to stretch and then started to decrease linearly while the stretch went on; after the completion of stretch the stiffness decreased towards a steady value which was equal to that during the isometric tetanus at the same sarcomere length, indicating that the enhancement of isometric force is associated with decreased stiffness.
  • (9) We conclude that CJD-related neuropathological phenomena do not accumulate gradually through the incubation period but develop relatively abruptly and in complete form.
  • (10) It inherited an economy that was growing quite strongly but activity came to an abrupt halt last autumn and has flatlined ever since.
  • (11) An abrupt decrease of the liver glycogen was found as well as a negligible rise of the blood sugar.
  • (12) Abrupt withdrawal jumping behavior in morphine-dependent mice is accompanied by a decrease in brain dopamine turnover and an increase in brain dopamine level which parallel strain differences in jumping incidence.
  • (13) In the active phase all the patients exhibited an abrupt increase in the activity of alkaline and acid phosphatase in blood neutrophils, a drop in the level of CP (in 69%), a rise in the activity of MP (in 32%); pyrogenal did not induce any capacity for restoring HCT (in 44%).
  • (14) During the development of the PM, all five RNAs exhibited the same schedule of accumulation, appearing de novo, or increasing abruptly just before PM ingression, and remaining at relatively high levels thereafter.
  • (15) In each case, the surgical procedure was nearly complete when an abrupt and persistent loss of SSEPs occurred.
  • (16) Following a midcollicular transection the paroxysmal bulbar activity abruptly disappeared.
  • (17) These channels underlie the graded active responses that can be elicited at the offset of abrupt hyperpolarizing and depolarizing intracellular current pulses.
  • (18) The main response characteristics are an immediate motor 'paralysis' (prolonged and generalized immobility), unresponsiveness, and abrupt and profound bradycardia.
  • (19) LAD to LCCA collaterals serve as functionally significant bidirectional perfusion conduits, and monitoring of collateral perfusion development is practical by measuring the step reduction in LCCA flow upon abrupt release of an LAD occlusion.
  • (20) Using concurrent videoendoscopy and manometry, glottal and upper esophageal sphincter (UES) responses to abrupt esophageal distention by air injection (10-60 mL) and balloon distention (1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 cm) were recorded simultaneously.

Precipitous


Definition:

  • (a.) Steep, like a precipice; as, a precipitous cliff or mountain.
  • (a.) Headlong; as, precipitous fall.
  • (a.) Hasty; rash; quick; sudden; precipitate; as, precipitous attempts.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The nuclear origin of the Ha antigen was confirmed by the speckled nuclear immunofluorescence staining pattern given by purified antibody to Ha obtained from a specific immune precipitate.
  • (2) The Fc fragment of this protein reacted with and was solubilized by the staphylococcal A protein which also precipitated the intact immunoglobulin.
  • (3) It could be demonstrated by radioimmune precipitation of virus labeled with[35S]methionine that all three polypeptides are specific for hog cholera virions.
  • (4) Nine of the in vivo synthesized early polypeptides can be precipitated specifically from infected cell extracts by antisera with specificity against early adenovirus proteins.
  • (5) Its pathogenesis, still incompletely elucidated, involves the precipitation of immune complexes in the walls of the all vessels.
  • (6) The usefulness of the proposed method is obvious in cases where the composition of a precipitate on LM scale is to be compared with the LM appearance of the surrounding tissue.
  • (7) After precipitation of plasma proteins by addition of methanol the samples are injected directly into the liquid chromatographic system.
  • (8) Thus Sephadex chromatography of the solution obtained by dissolving the antigen-antibody precipitate in these media repeatedly gave two peaks corresponding to anti-ovalbumin and ovalbumin.
  • (9) When AMT administration was discontinued 40 hrs before precipitation of withdrawal the withdrawal pattern occurred with unchanged intensity.
  • (10) Using a simple precipitation technique we observed that the serum concentrations of low density lipoproteins in healthy Africans were less than half the serum concentrations in healthy Europeans.
  • (11) There was no correlation between anti-TNP-precipitating antibody titer after sensitization and the ability to respond to challenge by hapten-heterologous carrier.
  • (12) Precipitating antibodies were found in both lines; they first appeared 7 days after inoculation in P-line birds and 14 days after inoculation in N-line birds, but thereafter there was no difference between the two genetic lines.
  • (13) The new technique, Surface Immune Precipitation (SIP), entails the application of an antigen sample droplet directly onto the surface of a gel containing antibody, the gel being supported by a reflecting substrate.
  • (14) In this study we have compared purified C4A and C4B with regard to their ability to prevent immune complex precipitation and to enhance the binding of both preformed and nascent immune complexes to the receptor CR1 on red cells.
  • (15) A lesser inhibitory effect (a decrease in the rate of precipitation) was observed when gallbladder bile was diluted but was lost after 10-fold dilution.
  • (16) The first step is the preparation of a globulin-enriched fraction by precipitation with ammonium sulfate at 50% saturation, or of an immune-complex-enriched fraction by precipitation with 5% polyethylene glycol 6000.
  • (17) DNase I microspheres were then introduced into the extracorporeal circuit which resulted in an acceleration of degradation of acid precipitable 125I-nDNA.
  • (18) The dramatic nationwide increase of primary and secondary syphilis in women has precipitated a dramatic rise in congenital syphilis.
  • (19) The translation of mRNA for S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase was studied using a polyamine-depleted reticulocyte lysate supplemented with mRNA from rat prostate and the antiserum to precipitate the proteins corresponding to S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase.
  • (20) Only heart rate correlated closely with the precipitation of angina.