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descend

des·cend

UK/dɪˈsɛnd/ US/dəˈsɛnd/ fairly common

verb

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”
Synonyms
Antonyms
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”
Synonyms
3.

do something that one considers to be below one''s dignity

Synonyms
4.

come as if by falling

  • “Night fell”
  • “Silence fell”
Synonyms

Origin

The verb is derived from Middle English descenden (“to move downwards, fall, descend; to slope downwards; to go from a better to a worse condition, decline, degenerate; to be a descendant, derive from (a source); etc.”), from Anglo-Norman descendere, descendre, and Old French descendere, descendre (“to move downwards, fall, descend; to slope downwards; to be a descendant, derive from (a source); etc.”) (modern French descendre), and from their etymon Latin dēscendere, the present active infinitive of dēscendō (“to come or go down, fall, descend; to slope downwards; to be a descendant; etc.”), from de- (prefix meaning ‘from; down from’) + scandō (“to ascend, climb; to clamber”) (from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to climb, scale; to dart; to jump”)). The noun is derived from the verb.

Phrases

  • descend into the arena
  • descend on
  • descend upon

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.