From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishprecipicepre‧ci‧pice /ˈpresɪpɪs/ noun [countable] 1 DNa very steep side of a high rock, mountain, or cliff A loose rock tumbled over the precipice.2 a dangerous situation in which something very bad could happen The stock market is on the edge of a precipice.
Examples from the Corpus
precipice• Above me, a precipice of unbroken rock.• Resting his weight on his bended knee, he was staring motionless over a precipice towards the lake.• Ruth wanted to reach out and pull him back, as if he were moving towards a precipice.• The howlers were skirting the scary precipice of extinction.• I was privately grateful that it was too dark to make out the edge of the precipice.• A single unwise maneuver would have sent Robinson and his skiff plunging over the precipice.Origin precipice (1500-1600) French Latin praecipitium, from praeceps “headfirst”, from caput “head” 