English
webster
Etymology
From w:French language|French descendre, w:Latin|Latin descendere, descensum; de- + scandere (meaning to climb). See scan.
Pronunciation
audio|en-us-descend.ogg|Audio (US)
Intransitive verb
en-verb
- 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 rain descended, and the floods came. Matthew vii. 25.
#:We will here descend to matters of later date. Fuller.
- To enter mentally; to retire. [Poetic]
#:[He] with holiest meditations fed, Into himself descended. Milton.
- 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.
- 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.
- To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered.
- 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.
- (Anat.) To move toward the south, or to the southward.
- (Mus.) To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone.
Transitive verb
en-verb
- 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.
See also
descent
descender
Antonyms
ascend
Category:French derivations
Category:Latin derivations
de:descend
fr:descend
ko:descend
io:descend
it:descend
hu:descend
fi:descend
te:descend
vi:descend
zh:descend
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