What does descent mean?
Definitions for descent
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word descent.
a movement downward
origin, descent, extractionnoun
properties attributable to your ancestry
"he comes from good origins"
the act of changing your location in a downward direction
descent, line of descent, lineage, filiationnoun
the kinship relation between an individual and the individual's progenitors
descent, declivity, fall, decline, declination, declension, downslopenoun
a downward slope or bend
lineage, line, line of descent, descent, bloodline, blood line, blood, pedigree, ancestry, origin, parentage, stemma, stocknoun
the descendants of one individual
"his entire lineage has been warriors"
An instance of descending
We climbed the mountain with difficulty, but the descent was easier.
A way down.
We had difficulty in finding the correct descent.
A sloping passage or incline.
The descent into the cavern was wet and slippery.
Lineage or hereditary derivation
Our guide was of Welsh descent.
A drop to a lower status or condition.
After that, the holiday went into a steep descent.
Etymology: From and descente, from descendre; see descend. Compare ascent, ascend.
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Etymology: descensus, Latin; descente, French.
Why do fragments, from a mountain rent,
Tend to the earth with such a swift descent? Richard Blackmore.
Observing such gradual and gentle descents downwards, in those parts of the creation that are beneath men, the rule of analogy may make it probable, that it is so also in things above. John Locke.
The heads and sources of rivers flow upon a descent, or an inclining plane, without which they could not flow at all. John Woodward, Natural History, p. iii.
From th’ extremest upward of thy head,
To the descent and dust below thy feet,
A most toad-spotted traitor. William Shakespeare, King Lear.
At the first descent on shore, he was not immured with a wooden vessel, but he did countenance the landing in his long-boat. Henry Wotton.
The duke was general himself, and made that unfortunate descent upon the Isle of Ree, which was attended with a miserable retreat, in which the flower of the army was lost. Edward Hyde.
Arise, true judges, in your own defence,
Controul those foplings, and declare for sense;
For should the fools prevail, they stop not there,
But make their next descent upon the fair. Dryden.
If the agreement and consent of men first gave a sceptre into any one’s hand, that also must direct its descent and conveyance. John Locke.
All of them, even without such a particular claim, had great reason to glory in their common descent from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to whom the promise of the blessed seed was severally made. Francis Atterbury, Sermons.
I give my voice on Richard’s side,
To bar my master’s heirs in true descent!
God knows, I will not do it. William Shakespeare, Richard III.
Turnus, for high descent and graceful mien,
Was first, and favour’d by the Latian queen. John Dryden, Æn.
The care of our descent perplexes us most,
Which must be born to certain woe. John Milton, Paradise Lost.
His whole descent, who thus shall Canaan win. John Milton, P. L.
No man living is a thousand descents removed from Adam himself. Richard Hooker, b. iii. s. 1.
Then all the sons of these five brethren reign’d
By due success, and all their nephews late,
Even thrice eleven descents the crown retain’d,
’Till aged Heli by due heritage it gain’d. Fairy Queen, b. ii.
How have I then, with whom to hold converse,
Save with the creatures which I made, and those
To me inferior; infinite descents
Beneath what other creatures are to thee. John Milton, P. Lost.
the act of descending, or passing downward; change of place from higher to lower
incursion; sudden attack; especially, hostile invasion from sea; -- often followed by upon or on; as, to make a descent upon the enemy
progress downward, as in station, virtue, as in station, virtue, and the like, from a higher to a lower state, from a higher to a lower state, from the more to the less important, from the better to the worse, etc
derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure by generation; lineage; birth; extraction
transmission of an estate by inheritance, usually, but not necessarily, in the descending line; title to inherit an estate by reason of consanguinity
inclination downward; a descending way; inclined or sloping surface; declivity; slope; as, a steep descent
that which is descended; descendants; issue
a step or remove downward in any scale of gradation; a degree in the scale of genealogy; a generation
lowest place; extreme downward place
a passing from a higher to a lower tone
Descent is a 3D first-person shooter video game developed by Parallax Software and released by Interplay on March 17, 1995. The game features six degrees of freedom gameplay and garnered several expansion packs. It spawned two direct sequels: Descent II and Descent 3. The trademark registration for Descent was allowed to lapse by Interplay in 2002 and was re-registered in 2008.
Dictionary of Nautical Terms
The landing of troops for the purpose of invading a country. The passage down a river.
British National Corpus
Rank popularity for the word 'descent' in Nouns Frequency: #2854
Anagrams for descent »
The numerical value of descent in Chaldean Numerology is: 2
The numerical value of descent in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7
Examples of descent in a Sentence
Electricity Minister Luis Motta:
It's still going down, but we're slowing the descent in hope rain comes.
I am, in point of fact, a particularly haughty and exclusive person, of pre-Adamite ancestral descent. You will understand this when I tell you that I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic globule.
The gates of Hell are open night and day Smooth the descent, and easy is the way But, to return, and view the cheerful skies In this, the task and mighty labor lies.
We checked them to make sure that they were still going to protect us if we needed to use them, we have some kind of on-orbit training that covers the descent procedures, so we're fresh with those. We talked to the specialists on the ground about all operations from the time we close the hatch until the time we get pulled out of the Soyuz. So, it's a pretty busy time. It's important, clearly, when you're coming back from space that we get everything right.
I dreamt of this all my life, I'm so happy, majka had won several Tour stages (three) and I was wary of him in the finale but I had good sensations. I knew that if I was catching him in the descent I'd have a good chance to win.
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Translations for descent
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- произход, спускане, нанадолнище, слизане, понижениеBulgarian
- baixadaCatalan, Valencian
- sestup, spád, původ, pádCzech
- bajada, origen, descenso, ascendenciaSpanish
- origine, descendanceFrench
- sinnsearachd, teàrnadhScottish Gaelic
- afkomst, herkomst, helling, afdalingDutch
- [[droga]] [[w]] [[dół]], pochodzenie, zejściePolish
- declive, origem, decadência, descida, ascendência, descendênciaPortuguese
- схождение, понижение, происхождение, спускRussian
- porijéklo, sílaz, podrijétlo, sìlazak, òbronak, pȃd, spȕst, rȏd, nágib, pàdinaSerbo-Croatian
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"descent." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 28 May 2023. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/descent>.
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