precipitate (adj. prih-SIH-puh-tut)

1 a : falling, flowing, or rushing with steep descent

b: precipitous, steep

2 : exhibiting violent or unwise speed

Many people, including usage commentators, are insistent about keeping the adjectives precipitate and precipitous distinct. Precipitate, they say, means headlong or impetuous; precipitous means only steep. And, indeed, precipitate is used mostly in the headlong sense, whereas precipitous usually means steep. But one shouldn't be too hasty about insisting on the distinction. The truth is that precipitate and precipitous have had a tendency to overlap for centuries. Lexicographer Samuel Johnson, in his dictionary of 1755, defined precipitate as steeply falling, headlong, and hasty, while precipitous was headlong; steep, and hasty. Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary included much the same definitions. The words' etymologies overlap as well. Both ultimately come from Latin praeceps, which means headlong -- the same word that gave us precipice.

proselytize (v. PRAH-suh-luh-tyze or PRAH-sluh-tyze)

1 : to induce someone to convert to one's faith

2 : to recruit someone to join one's party, institution, or cause

3 : to recruit or convert especially to a new faith, institution, or cause

Proselytize comes from the noun proselyte (meaning a new convert), which comes from the Latin noun proselytus. Proselytus means a stranger or an alien resident, and comes from a similar Greek word. Proselyte is sometimes specifically applied to converts to the Jewish religion -- that is, to people who come to Judaism from the other religions. When proselytize entered English in the 17th century, it had a distinctly religious connotation and meant simply to recruit religious converts. This meaning is still common, but today one can also proselytize in a broader sense -- recruiting converts to one's political party or pet cause, for example.