descend

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de·scend

 (dĭ-sĕnd′)
v. de·scend·ed, de·scend·ing, de·scends
v.intr.
1. To move from a higher to a lower place; come or go down.
2. To slope, extend, or incline downward: "A rough path descended like a steep stair into the plain" (J.R.R. Tolkien).
3.
a. To be related by genetic descent from an individual or individuals in a previous generation: He descends from Norwegian immigrants.
b. To come down from a source; derive: a tradition descending from colonial days.
c. To pass by inheritance: The house has descended through four generations.
4. To lower oneself; stoop: "She, the conqueror, had descended to the level of the conquered" (James Bryce).
5. To proceed or progress downward, as in rank, pitch, or scale: titles listed in descending order of importance; notes that descended to the lower register.
6. To arrive or attack in a sudden or overwhelming manner: summer tourists descending on the seashore village.
v.tr.
1. To move from a higher to lower part of; go down: I descended the staircase into the basement.
2. To extend or proceed downward along: a road that descended the mountain in sharp curves.
Idiom:
be descended from
To be related to (an ancestor) by genetic descent from an individual or individuals in a previous generation: She claims to be descended from European royalty.

[Middle English descenden, from Old French descendre, from Latin dēscendere : dē-, de- + scandere, to climb; see skand- in Indo-European roots.]

de·scend′i·ble, de·scend′a·ble adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

descend

(dɪˈsɛnd)
vb (mainly intr)
1. (also tr) to move, pass, or go down (a hill, slope, staircase, etc)
2. (of a hill, slope, or path) to lead or extend down; slope; incline
3. to move to a lower level, pitch, etc; fall
4. (Genetics) (often foll by from) to be connected by a blood relationship (to a dead or extinct individual, race, species, etc)
5. (Anthropology & Ethnology) (often foll by from) to be connected by a blood relationship (to a dead or extinct individual, race, species, etc)
6. (Genetics) to be passed on by parents or ancestors; be inherited
7. to sink or come down in morals or behaviour; lower oneself
8. (often foll by: on or upon) to arrive or attack in a sudden or overwhelming way: their relatives descended upon them last week.
9. (Celestial Objects) (of the sun, moon, etc) to move towards the horizon
[C13: from Old French descendre, from Latin dēscendere, from de- + scandere to climb; see scan]
desˈcendable adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

de•scend

(dɪˈsɛnd)

v.i.
1. to go or pass from a higher to a lower place; move or come down: to descend from the mountaintop.
2. to pass from higher to lower in any scale or series.
3. to go from generals to particulars, as in a discussion.
4. to slope, tend, or lead downward: The path descends to the pond.
5. to be inherited or transmitted, as through succeeding generations of a family: The title descends through eldest sons.
6. to be derived from something remote in time, esp. through continuous transmission: a festival descending from a druidic rite.
7. to attack or approach as if attacking (usu. fol. by on or upon): Thrill-seekers descended upon the scene of the crime.
8. to settle, as a cloud or vapor.
9. to sink or come down from a certain standard or level of behavior; stoop: You must never descend to bickering.
v.t.
10. to move downward upon or along; go or climb down (stairs, a hill, etc.).
11. to extend or lead down along.
12. descend or be descended from, to have a certain ancestor or ancestry: We are descended from the kings of Ireland.
[1250–1300; < Old French descendre < Latin dēscendere=dē- de- + -scendere, comb. form of scandere to climb]
de•scend′i•ble, de•scend′a•ble, adj.
de•scend′ing•ly, adv.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

descend

To descend means to move downwards to a lower level.

The valley becomes more exquisite as we descend.
The lift descended one floor.

Descend is a formal or literary word. When someone or something moves downwards to a lower level, you normally say that they go down or come down.

First she went down to the basement to throw the morning's load of laundry from the washer into the dryer.
He stood at the foot of the stairs calling for her to come down.
Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

descend


Past participle: descended
Gerund: descending

Imperative
descend
descend
Present
I descend
you descend
he/she/it descends
we descend
you descend
they descend
Preterite
I descended
you descended
he/she/it descended
we descended
you descended
they descended
Present Continuous
I am descending
you are descending
he/she/it is descending
we are descending
you are descending
they are descending
Present Perfect
I have descended
you have descended
he/she/it has descended
we have descended
you have descended
they have descended
Past Continuous
I was descending
you were descending
he/she/it was descending
we were descending
you were descending
they were descending
Past Perfect
I had descended
you had descended
he/she/it had descended
we had descended
you had descended
they had descended
Future
I will descend
you will descend
he/she/it will descend
we will descend
you will descend
they will descend
Future Perfect
I will have descended
you will have descended
he/she/it will have descended
we will have descended
you will have descended
they will have descended
Future Continuous
I will be descending
you will be descending
he/she/it will be descending
we will be descending
you will be descending
they will be descending
Present Perfect Continuous
I have been descending
you have been descending
he/she/it has been descending
we have been descending
you have been descending
they have been descending
Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been descending
you will have been descending
he/she/it will have been descending
we will have been descending
you will have been descending
they will have been descending
Past Perfect Continuous
I had been descending
you had been descending
he/she/it had been descending
we had been descending
you had been descending
they had been descending
Conditional
I would descend
you would descend
he/she/it would descend
we would descend
you would descend
they would descend
Past Conditional
I would have descended
you would have descended
he/she/it would have descended
we would have descended
you would have descended
they would have descended
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Verb1.descend - move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way; "The temperature is going down"; "The barometer is falling"; "The curtain fell on the diva"; "Her hand went up and then fell again"
prolapse - slip or fall out of place, as of body parts; "prolapsed rectum"
go, locomote, move, travel - change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically; "How fast does your new car go?"; "We travelled from Rome to Naples by bus"; "The policemen went from door to door looking for the suspect"; "The soldiers moved towards the city in an attempt to take it before night fell"; "news travelled fast"
abseil, rappel, rope down - lower oneself with a rope coiled around the body from a mountainside; "The ascent was easy--roping down the mountain would be much more difficult and dangerous"; "You have to learn how to abseil when you want to do technical climbing"
dismount, unhorse, get down, light, get off - alight from (a horse)
avalanche, roll down - gather into a huge mass and roll down a mountain, of snow
dive, plunge, plunk - drop steeply; "the stock market plunged"
go under, go down, set - disappear beyond the horizon; "the sun sets early these days"
slump, correct, decline - go down in value; "the stock market corrected"; "prices slumped"
precipitate - fall vertically, sharply, or headlong; "Our economy precipitated into complete ruin"
subside, sink - descend into or as if into some soft substance or place; "He sank into bed"; "She subsided into the chair"
crash - fall or come down violently; "The branch crashed down on my car"; "The plane crashed in the sea"
flop - fall suddenly and abruptly
topple, tumble - fall down, as if collapsing; "The tower of the World Trade Center tumbled after the plane hit it"
drop - to fall vertically; "the bombs are dropping on enemy targets"
plop - drop with the sound of something falling into water
pitch - fall or plunge forward; "She pitched over the railing of the balcony"
climb down, alight - come down; "the birds alighted"
go under, go down, sink, settle - go under, "The raft sank and its occupants drowned"
pounce, swoop - move down on as if in an attack; "The raptor swooped down on its prey"; "The teacher swooped down upon the new students"
drip - fall in drops; "Water is dripping from the faucet"
cascade, cascade down - rush down in big quantities, like a cascade
ascend, go up - travel up, "We ascended the mountain"; "go up a ladder"; "The mountaineers slowly ascended the steep slope"
2.descend - come from; be connected by a relationship of blood, for example; "She was descended from an old Italian noble family"; "he comes from humble origins"
derive - come from; "The present name derives from an older form"
hail, come - be a native of; "She hails from Kalamazoo"
3.descend - do something that one considers to be below one's dignity
act, move - perform an action, or work out or perform (an action); "think before you act"; "We must move quickly"; "The governor should act on the new energy bill"; "The nanny acted quickly by grabbing the toddler and covering him with a wet towel"
4.descend - come as if by falling; "Night fell"; "Silence fell"
come - come to pass; arrive, as in due course; "The first success came three days later"; "It came as a shock"; "Dawn comes early in June"
fall - go as if by falling; "Grief fell from our hearts"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

descend

verb
1. fall, drop, sink, go down, plunge, dive, tumble, plummet, subside, move down Disaster struck as the plane descended through the mist.
fall rise, scale, mount, climb, go up, soar, ascend
2. get off, alight, disembark, dismount, debus, deplane, detrain The bus stopped and three people descended.
3. go down, come down, walk down, move down, climb down Things are cooler and more damp as we descend to the cellar.
4. slope, decline, sink, dip, incline, slant, fall away, gravitate The path descended steeply to the rushing river.
be descended from originate from, derive from, spring from, proceed from, issue from, be a descendant of He was proud to be descended from tradesmen.
descend on something or someone attack, assault, raid, invade, swoop, pounce, assail, arrive, come in force, arrive in hordes Drunken mobs descended on their homes.
descend to something lower yourself, resort, stoop, be reduced, condescend, deign, humble yourself, debase yourself, abase yourself She's got too much dignity to descend to writing anonymous letters.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

descend

verb
1. To move downward in response to gravity:
2. To slope downward:
3. To have hereditary derivation:
Idiom: trace one's descent.
4. To bring oneself down to a lower level of behavior:
5. To become lower in quality, character, or condition:
Idioms: go bad, go to pot, go to seed , go to the dogs.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
يَنْحَدِريَنْحَدِرُيَنْزِلُيُهاجِمُن يَنْقَضُّ
sestoupitsvažovat sezaútočit
gå ned adskrå ned modstige ned
laskeutua
sićisilazitispuštatispustitipotjecati
leereszkediklemegymegrohan
halla niîur á viîkoma niîurráîast skyndilega á
降りる
내려가다
būti kilusiam išleistis žemynnuokalnėnusileidimasnusileisti
nokāptnolaistiespēkšņi uzbruktvest lejup
spustiti se
härstamma
ลงมา
đi xuống

descend

[dɪˈsend]
A. VT
1. (frm) (= go down) [+ stairs] → descender, bajar
2. (= originate) to be descended from sbdescender de algn
B. VI
1. (frm) (= go down) → descender, bajar (from de)
see also descending
2. (= invade, take over) to descend (up)on [fog, silence] → caer sobre; [army, reporters] → invadir (hum) [visitors] → invadir
we've got the whole family descending on us this weekendnos va a invadir toda la familia este fin de semana
3. (= sink) I'd never descend to that levelnunca me rebajaría a ese nivel
to descend to doing sthrebajarse a hacer algo
4. (= be inherited) [property, custom] → pasar (to a)
5. (= originate) to descend from [+ ancestors] → descender de
his family descends from William the Conquerorsu familia desciende de Guillermo el Conquistador
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

descend

[dɪˈsɛnd]
vt [+ stairs] → descendre
vi
(= go down) → descendre
(fig) (= stoop) to descend to sth → s'abaisser à qch
to descend to doing sth → s'abaisser à faire qch
descend on
descend upon vt fus
(= arrive in) [+ place] → envahir
(= come to see) [+ person] → assaillir
The whole family always descended on him at Christmas → A Noël, il était toujours assailli par sa famille au complet.
Visitors descended on us → Nous étions assaillis de visiteurs.
[gloom, silence, calm] → envahir
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

descend

vi
(= go down, person) → hinuntergehen, hinabschreiten (geh); (lift, vehicle)hinunterfahren; (road)hinunterführen, hinuntergehen; (hill)abfallen; (from horse) → absteigen; (Astron) → untergehen; in descending order of importancenach Wichtigkeit geordnet
(= have as ancestor)abstammen (from von)
(= pass by inheritance, property) → übergehen (→ from von, to auf +acc); (customs)überliefert werden (→ from von, to auf +acc); (rights)vererbt werden (→ from von, to auf +acc)
(= attack suddenly)herfallen (→ on, upon über +acc), → überfallen (on, upon sb jdn); (disease, illness)heimsuchen (on, upon sb jdn); (= come over, sadness etc) → befallen (on, upon sb jdn); (silence)sich senken (→ on, upon über +acc)
(inf: = visit) to descend (up)on somebodyjdn überfallen (inf); thousands of fans are expected to descend on the cityman erwartet, dass tausende or Tausende von Fans die Stadt überlaufen
(= lower oneself) to descend to somethingsich zu etw herablassen; I’d never descend to sarcasmich würde mich nicht dazu herablassen, sarkastisch zu werden; he even descended to briberyer scheute selbst vor Bestechung nicht zurück; to descend into anarchy/chaos/civil warin Anarchie/Chaos/einen Bürgerkrieg versinken
vt
stairshinuntergehen or -steigen, hinabschreiten (geh)
to be descended fromabstammen von
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

descend

[dɪˈsɛnd]
1. vt
a. (frm) (stairs) → scendere
b. to be descended from sb (Genealogy) → discendere da qn
2. vi
a. (go down) to descend (from)(di)scendere (da); (road) → scendere (da)
in descending order of importance → in ordine decrescente d'importanza
b. (property, customs) to descend from ...topassare da... a
to descend from generation to generation → tramandarsi di generazione in generazione
descend on descend upon vi + prep (subj, enemy, large group, angry person) → assalire, piombare su (liter) (gloom, silence) → scendere su
visitors descended on us → ci sono capitati ospiti inaspettati
descend to vi + prep (lower o.s. to) to descend to sthabbassarsi a qc
to descend to doing sth → abbassarsi a fare qc
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

descend

(diˈsend) verb
1. to go or climb down from a higher place or position. He descended the staircase.
2. to slope downwards. The hills descend to the sea.
3. (with on) to make a sudden attack on. The soldiers descended on the helpless villagers.
deˈscendant noun
the child, grandchild, great-grandchild etc of a person. This is a photograph of my grandmother with all her descendants.
deˈscent (-t) noun
1. the act of descending. The descent of the hill was quickly completed.
2. a slope. That is a steep descent.
3. family; ancestry. She is of royal descent.
be descended from
to be a descendant of.

the noun descendant ends in -ant (not -ent).
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

descend

يَنْحَدِرُ sestoupit stige ned hinabgehen κατεβαίνω descender laskeutua descendre sići scendere 降りる 내려가다 afdalen gå ned zejść descer спускаться härstamma ลงมา inmek đi xuống 下降
Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009

descend

n. descenso, bajada, movimiento de arriba hacia abajo;
vi. descender, bajar, derivarse.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
References in classic literature ?
At this point of inflation, it is in exact equilibrium with the air, and neither mounts nor descends.
We bore away nearly horizontally for about four hundred feet, then ascended directly toward the summit for about sixty feet, then doubled back to the ridge which descends toward Zermatt.
EVE, easily may Faith admit, that all The good which we enjoy, from Heav'n descends But that from us ought should ascend to Heav'n So prevalent as to concerne the mind Of God high blest, or to incline his will, Hard to belief may seem; yet this will Prayer, Or one short sigh of humane breath, up-borne Ev'n to the Seat of God.
The sun is yet high in the heavens; before it descends to hide itself behind your snowy precipices and illuminate another world, you will have heard my story and can decide.
La Esmeralda turned pale and descended from the pillory, staggering as she went.
The troops of the center, the reserves, and Bagration's right flank had not yet moved, but on the left flank the columns of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, which were to be the first to descend the heights to attack the French right flank and drive it into the Bohemian mountains according to plan, were already up and astir.
Then he descended with cautious and slow step, for he dreaded lest an accident similar to that he had so adroitly feigned should happen in reality.
When we attempt to estimate the amount of structural difference between the domestic races of the same species, we are soon involved in doubt, from not knowing whether they have descended from one or several parent-species.
This figure advanced to the outer door of the mansion, and throwing both its leaves wide open, withdrew a little to one side and looked back towards the grand staircase as if expecting some person to descend. At the same time the music in the street sounded a loud and doleful summons.
Instead of anchoring,--I had set out the guide-light above our roof, so he had but to descend and fasten the plane--he wandered, profoundly distracted, above the town with his anchor down!
If he was to have any rest, her husband must once more descend into the garden.
'Not so,' said I, 'for I think they might manage to descend without it; what say you,--shall we attempt the feat?'