I was just pondering the fine sibilant shape of

Now, this word is less obscure than my usual fare; but it has fine qualities to recommend it. Chief among them is its sound and cadence, the way, after the secure ledge of the ‘pre-’ you are suddenly tumbling down the slope of ‘cipitous’, which you can hardly help but say very quickly, slipping and sliding from sound to sound until you skid to a stop with the ’s’. Or I could be crazy. Or both.

I also like the interplay of its practical, concrete meaning and roots with its more abstract application; a lot of the lovely words we get from Latin are like that.

If a midshipman don’t check his impetus, he’ll descend in a manner precipitous!