What does descent mean?
Definitions for descent
dɪˈsɛntde·scent
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word descent.
Princeton's WordNet
descentnoun
a movement downward
origin, descent, extractionnoun
properties attributable to your ancestry
"he comes from good origins"
descentnoun
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"
Wiktionary
descentnoun
An instance of descending
We climbed the mountain with difficulty, but the descent was easier.
descentnoun
A way down.
We had difficulty in finding the correct descent.
descentnoun
A sloping passage or incline.
The descent into the cavern was wet and slippery.
descentnoun
Lineage or hereditary derivation
Our guide was of Welsh descent.
descentnoun
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
Descentnoun
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.From him
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.
ChatGPT
descent
Descent refers to the action or process of moving or falling downward, the origin or background of an individual in terms of family or nationality, or inheritance of genetic properties. It can also refer to a person's cultural, social or genealogical lineage from their ancestors. The term is used across various fields like physics, biology, sociology, and anthropology.
Webster Dictionary
Descentnoun
the act of descending, or passing downward; change of place from higher to lower
Descentnoun
incursion; sudden attack; especially, hostile invasion from sea; -- often followed by upon or on; as, to make a descent upon the enemy
Descentnoun
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
Descentnoun
derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure by generation; lineage; birth; extraction
Descentnoun
transmission of an estate by inheritance, usually, but not necessarily, in the descending line; title to inherit an estate by reason of consanguinity
Descentnoun
inclination downward; a descending way; inclined or sloping surface; declivity; slope; as, a steep descent
Descentnoun
that which is descended; descendants; issue
Descentnoun
a step or remove downward in any scale of gradation; a degree in the scale of genealogy; a generation
Descentnoun
lowest place; extreme downward place
Descentnoun
a passing from a higher to a lower tone
Wikidata
Descent
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
descent
The landing of troops for the purpose of invading a country. The passage down a river.
Matched Categories
British National Corpus
Nouns Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'descent' in Nouns Frequency: #2854
Anagrams for descent »
scented
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of descent in Chaldean Numerology is: 2
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of descent in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7
Examples of descent in a Sentence
My father came from a country called Bolivia. He was of Spanish descent. I never went to Bolivia until I was 60 years old, but apparently when he was 17, he had already planned his entire academic curriculum so that he could graduate high school and enter college in the United States. That's how much he wanted to come to this country.
It made me think about: Why would he target just them? What have we done? What did they do to him? They are just normal people going about their normal lives, like everybody else, how do you know they are not American citizens? Just because they're of Mexican descent?
Theology I would say can be described as the trajectory of the sacred parabola, where faith ascends into the cosmic heights and descends into the depths of existential contemplation. In this divine curve, each theological reflection becomes a celestial arc, tracing the path of faith's ascent and the graceful descent into the mysteries of the divine.
Racism against people of Asian descent has been subtle in Germany, but it has always been here, with this recent coronavirus outbreak, it has just gotten worse... we are basically stuck between getting ridiculed and being the recipient of disgust.
“The United Nations and the Organization of American States have named 2011 as the International Year for People of African Descent. This is an opportunity for all of us around the globe to celebrate the diversity of our societies and to honor the contributions that our fellow citizens of African descent make every day to the economic, social and political fabrics of our communities.”
Popularity rank by frequency of use
References
Translations for descent
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- اصلArabic
- нанадолнище, спускане, слизане, произход, понижениеBulgarian
- baixadaCatalan, Valencian
- sestup, spád, pád, původCzech
- afstamningDanish
- HerkunftGerman
- bajada, descenso, ascendencia, origenSpanish
- syntyperäFinnish
- descendance, origineFrench
- teàrnadh, sinnsearachdScottish Gaelic
- ascendenzaItalian
- 降下Japanese
- 하강Korean
- heketangaMāori
- afkomst, helling, herkomst, afdalingDutch
- pochodzenie, [[droga]] [[w]] [[dół]], zejściePolish
- declive, origem, decadência, descendência, ascendência, descidaPortuguese
- coborâreRomanian
- спуск, происхождение, понижение, схождениеRussian
- òbronak, rȏd, pàdina, podrijétlo, nágib, spȕst, pȃd, sìlazak, porijéklo, sílazSerbo-Croatian
- спускUkrainian
- نسلUrdu
Get even more translations for descent »
Translation
Find a translation for the descent definition in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Word of the Day
Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?
Citation
Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"descent." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/descent>.
Discuss these descent definitions with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In