What is meant by precipitation?

The concept of precipitation refers to the formation or accumulation of liquid water in drops small enough to fall to Earth. The word itself comes from Latin and means "to pour down." Precipitation is a process that falls from a gaseous state into a liquid state, where it can become solid. It's most easy to think of rain as precipitation, but there are many other forms as well. For instance, snow and hail are both types as well.

Precipitation falls from the sky because air is heated by the sun which rises upward through Earth's atmosphere until it reaches the troposphere (the middle layer).

Water rises to the atmosphere in the form of water vapor because of the heat from the Sun’s rays .These vapor when becomes heavy to form cloud falls down to the earth. Whatever falls back to the earth is known as precipitation. This can be in the form of rain water, ice, hail stones or snow. Precipitation therefore means anything that falls from the sky. This could be in any form of liquid.