Adjacent Words

Descend definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DESCEND, v.i. [L. To climb.]
1. To move or pass from a higher to a lower place; to move, come or go downwards; to fall; to sink; to run or flow down; applicable to any kind of motion or of body. We descend on the feet, on wheels, or by falling. A torrent descends from a mountain.
The rains descended, and the floods came. Matthew 7.
2. To go down, or to enter.
He shall descend into battle and perish. Sam. 26.
3. To come suddenly; to fall violently.
And on the suitors let thy wrath descend.
4. To go in; to enter.
He, with honest meditations fed, into himself descended.
5. To rush; to invade, as an enemy.
The Grecian fleet descending on the town.
6. To proceed from a source or original; to be derived. The beggar may descend from a prince, and the prince, from a beggar.
7. To proceed, as from father to son; to pass from a preceding possessor, in the order of lineage, or according to the laws of succession or inheritance. Thus, an inheritance descends to the son or next of kin; a crown descends to the heir.
8. To pass from general to particular considerations; as, having explained the general subject, we will descend to particulars.
9. To come down from an elevated or honorable station; in a figurative sense. Flavius is an honorable man; he cannot descend to acts of meanness.
10. In music, to fall in sound; to pass from any note to another less acute or shrill, or from sharp to flat.
DESCEND, v.t. To walk, move or pass downwards on a declivity; as, to descend a hill; to descend an inclined plain. [But this may be considered as elliptical; on or along being understood.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: 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" [syn: descend, fall, go down, come down] [ant: arise, ascend, come up, go up, lift, move up, rise, uprise]
2: 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" [syn: derive, come, descend]
3: do something that one considers to be below one's dignity [syn: condescend, deign, descend]
4: come as if by falling; "Night fell"; "Silence fell" [syn: fall, descend, settle]

Merriam Webster's

verb Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French descendre, from Latin descendere, from de- + scandere to climb — more at scan Date: 13th century intransitive verb 1. to pass from a higher place or level to a lower one <descended from the platform> 2. to pass in discussion from what is logically prior or more comprehensive 3. a. to originate or come from an ancestral stock or source ; derive <descends from an old merchant family> b. to pass by inheritance <a desk that has descended in the family> c. to pass by transmission <songs descended from old ballads> 4. to incline, lead, or extend downward <the road descends to the river> 5. a. to swoop or pounce down (as in a sudden attack) b. to appear suddenly and often disconcertingly as if from above <reporters descended on the candidate> 6. to proceed in a sequence or gradation from higher to lower or from more remote to nearer or more recent 7. a. to lower oneself in status or dignity ; stoop b. to worsen and sink in condition or estimation transitive verb 1. to pass, move, or climb down or down along 2. to extend down along • descendible adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 tr. & intr. go or come down (a hill, stairs, etc.). 2 intr. (of a thing) sink, fall (rain descended heavily). 3 intr. slope downwards, lie along a descending slope (fields descended to the beach). 4 intr. (usu. foll. by on) a make a sudden attack. b make an unexpected and usu. unwelcome visit (hope they don't descend on us at the weekend). 5 intr. (usu. foll. by from, to) (of property, qualities, rights, etc.) be passed by inheritance (the house descends from my grandmother; the property descended to me). 6 intr. a sink in rank, quality, etc. b (foll. by to) degrade oneself morally to (an unworthy act) (descend to violence). 7 intr. Mus. (of sound) become lower in pitch. 8 intr. (usu. foll. by to) proceed (in discourse or writing): a in time (to a subsequent event etc.). b from the general (to the particular) (now let's descend to details). 9 tr. go along (a river etc.) to the sea etc. 10 intr. Printing (of a letter) have its tail below the line. Phrases and idioms: be descended from have as an ancestor. Derivatives: descendent adj. Etymology: ME f. OF descendre f. L descendere (as DE-, scandere climb)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Descend De*scend", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Descended; p. pr. & vb. n. Descending.] [F. descendre, L. descendere, descensum; de- + scandere to climb. See Scan.] 1. To pass from a higher to a lower place; to move downwards; to come or go down in any way, as by falling, flowing, walking, etc.; to plunge; to fall; to incline downward; -- the opposite of ascend. The rain descended, and the floods came. --Matt. vii. 25. We will here descend to matters of later date. --Fuller. 2. To enter mentally; to retire. [Poetic] [He] with holiest meditations fed, Into himself descended. --Milton. 3. To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon. And on the suitors let thy wrath descend. --Pope. 4. To come down to a lower, less fortunate, humbler, less virtuous, or worse, state or station; to lower or abase one's self; as, he descended from his high estate. 5. To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered. 6. To come down, as from a source, original, or stock; to be derived; to proceed by generation or by transmission; to fall or pass by inheritance; as, the beggar may descend from a prince; a crown descends to the heir. 7. (Anat.) To move toward the south, or to the southward. 8. (Mus.) To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Descend De*scend", v. t. To go down upon or along; to pass from a higher to a lower part of; as, they descended the river in boats; to descend a ladder. But never tears his cheek descended. --Byron.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(descends, descending, descended) 1. If you descend or if you descend a staircase, you move downwards from a higher to a lower level. (FORMAL) Things are cooler and more damp as we descend to the cellar... She descended one flight of stairs. = go down ? rise, ascend VERB: V prep, V n 2. When a mood or atmosphere descends on a place or on the people there, it affects them by spreading among them. (LITERARY) An uneasy calm descended on the area... = fall VERB: V on/upon/over n, also V 3. If a large group of people arrive to see you, especially if their visit is unexpected or causes you a lot of work, you can say that they have descended on you. 3,000 city officials descended on Capitol Hill to lobby for more money... VERB: V on/upon n 4. When night, dusk, or darkness descends, it starts to get dark. (LITERARY) Darkness has now descended and the moon and stars shine hazily in the clear sky. = fall VERB: V 5. If you say that someone descends to behaviour which you consider unacceptable, you are expressing your disapproval of the fact that they do it. We're not going to descend to such methods... = stoop, sink VERB: V to n/-ing [disapproval] 6. When you want to emphasize that the situation that someone is entering is very bad, you can say that they are descending into that situation. He was ultimately overthrown and the country descended into chaos. = fall, slide VERB: V into n [emphasis]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. n. 1. Fall, sink, drop, go down, come down. 2. Dismount, alight, get down. 3. Go, pass, proceed, be transferred or transmitted or handed down. 4. Originate, be derived, take rise. 5. Make an attack, make an assault, make a descent. II. v. a. Go down, move down.

Moby Thesaurus

advance, alight, ascend, assault, attack, back, back up, bank, be shamed, budge, cant, careen, cascade, cataract, change, change hands, change ownership, change place, circle, climb, climb down, collapse, come down, come in, condescend, crash, crash-land, decline, degenerate, deign, derogate, descend on, devolve, dip, dip down, disimprove, disintegrate, ditch, down, downwind, drop, drop down, drop off, ebb, fall, fall away, fall down, fall into disrepute, fall off, flow, get down, get over, go, go around, go down, go downhill, go round, go sideways, go uphill, grade, gravitate, gyrate, head, incline, incur discredit, incur disesteem, incur disgrace, invade, keel, land, lead, lean, level off, light, list, lose altitude, lose caste, lose countenance, lose credit, lose face, lower, lower oneself, mount, move, move over, overshoot, pancake, parachute, pass on, pitch, plummet, plunge, point, pounce, pounce on, pounce upon, pour down, precipitate, progress, rain, rake, regress, retreat, retrograde, retrogress, rise, rot, rotate, run, settle, settle down, shelve, shift, sidle, sink, slant, slope, soar, spin, stir, stoop, stream, subside, succeed, swag, sway, swoop, swoop down on, swoop down upon, talk down, tend, tend to go, tilt, tip, touch down, travel, trend downward, uprise, upwind, vouchsafe, wane, whirl, worsen