What does descend mean?

Definitions for descend
dɪˈsɛndde·scend

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word descend.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. descend, fall, go down, come downverb

    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"

  2. derive, come, descendverb

    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"

  3. condescend, deign, descendverb

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

  4. fall, descend, settleverb

    come as if by falling

    "Night fell"; "Silence fell"

Wiktionary

  1. descendverb

    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

  2. descendverb

    To enter mentally; to retire. [Poetic]

    [He] with holiest meditations fed, Into himself descended. John Milton.

  3. descendverb

    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. Alexander Pope.

  4. descendverb

    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. descendverb

    To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered.

  6. descendverb

    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. descendverb

    To move toward the south, or to the southward.

  8. descendverb

    To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone.

  9. descendverb

    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.

  10. Etymology: From decenden, from descendre, from descendere, past participle descensus, from de- + scandere. See scan, scandent. Compare ascend, condescend, transcend.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. To DESCENDverb

    Etymology: descendo, Latin.

    The rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. Matt. vii. 25.

    The brook that descended out of the mount. Deutr. ix. 21.

    He cleft his head with one descending blow. Dryden.

    Foul with stains
    Of gushing torrents and descending rains. Joseph Addison, Cato.

    O goddess! who, descending from the skies,
    Vouchsaf’d thy presence to my wond’ring eyes. Alexander Pope, Odyss.

    He shall descend into battle, and perish. 1 Sa. xxvi. 10.

    For the pious fire preserve the son;
    His wish’d return with happy pow’r befriend,
    And on the suitors let thy wrath descend. Alexander Pope, Odyssey, b. iv.

    The goddess gives th’ alarm; and soon is known
    The Grecian fleet, descending on the town. Dryden.

    A foreign son upon the shore descends,
    Whose martial fame from pole to pole extends. Dryden.

    Despair descends from a mean original; the offspring of fear, laziness, and impatience. Jeremy Collier, against Despair.

    Will is younger brother to a baronet, and descended of the ancient family of the Wimbles. Joseph Addison, Spectator, №. 108.

    Should we allow that all the property, all the estate of the father, ought to descend to the eldest son; yet the father’s natural dominion, the paternal power, cannot descend unto him by inheritance. John Locke.

    The inheritance of both rule over men and property, in things sprung from the same original, and were to descend by the same rules. John Locke.

    Our author provides for the descending and conveyance down of Adam’s monarchical power to posterity, by the inheritance of his heir, succeeding to his father’s authority. John Locke.

    Congregations discerned the small accord that was among themselves, when they descended to particulars. Decay of Piety.

  2. To Descendverb

    To walk downward upon any place.

    He ended, and they both descend the hill;
    Descended Adam to the bow’r, where Eve
    Lay sleeping. John Milton, Paradise Lost.

    In all our journey through the Alps, as well when we climbed as when we descended them, we had still a river running along with the road. Joseph Addison, on Italy.

    In the midst of this plain stands a high hill, so very steep, that there would be no mounting or descending it, were not it made up of a loose crumbled earth. Joseph Addison, on Italy.

ChatGPT

  1. descend

    Descend generally refers to the act of moving, going, or falling downwards or to a lower position. It can also refer to someone originate or have lineage from a particular person or group. In a broader sense, it can also mean to arrive or attack suddenly and forcefully.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Descendverb

    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

  2. Descendverb

    to enter mentally; to retire

  3. Descendverb

    to make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon

  4. Descendverb

    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. Descendverb

    to pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered

  6. Descendverb

    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. Descendverb

    to move toward the south, or to the southward

  8. Descendverb

    to fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone

  9. Descendverb

    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

  10. Etymology: [F. descendre, L. descendere, descensum; de- + scandere to climb. See Scan.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Descend

    dē-send′, v.i. to climb down: to pass from a higher to a lower place or condition: to pass from general to particulars: to fall upon or invade: to be derived.—v.t. to go down upon: to go to the bottom of.—n. Descend′ant, one who descends, as offspring from an ancestor.—adjs. Descend′ent, descending or going down: proceeding from an ancestor; Descend′ible, that may descend or be descended: capable of transmission by inheritance, heritable.—p.adj. Descend′ing.—n. Descen′sion.—adj. Descen′sional.—n. Descent′, act of descending: transmission by succession: motion or progress downward: slope: a falling upon or invasion: derivation from an ancestor: a generation, a degree in genealogy: descendants collectively.—Descent from the cross, a picture representing Christ being taken down from the cross. [Fr. descendre—L. descendĕrede, down, scandĕre, to climb.]

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. descend

    In a military sense, means to make an attack or incursion as if from a vantage-ground.

Suggested Resources

  1. descend

    The descend symbol -- In this Symbols.com article you will learn about the meaning of the descend symbol and its characteristic.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'descend' in Verbs Frequency: #789

How to pronounce descend?

How to say descend in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of descend in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of descend in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of descend in a Sentence

  1. Uppsala University:

    Humans have always been interested in trying to find an answer to the question, 'Where do we come from?' Well, now we know from what type of microbial ancestor we descend, essentially, Lokiarchaeota represent a missing piece of the puzzle of the evolution from simple cells - bacteria and archaea, prokaryotes - to complex cells - eukaryotes, which includes us humans.

  2. Van Beurden:

    You cannot talk credibly about lowering emissions globally if, for example, you are slow to acknowledge climate change; if you undermine calls for an effective carbon price; and if you always descend into the 'jobs versus environment' argument in the public debate.

  3. Mark Bederow:

    Commercial burglaries will be subjected to a lax standard of prosecution, which hopefully will not encourage criminals to descend upon Manhattan to engage in the flash mob burglaries that have all but destroyed business in San Francisco.

  4. Albert Vera:

    The Washington Square Park situation reminds me a lot of the Tompkins Square Park situation of 1988, the cityeither needs to ignore the situation totally and let the park descend into bedlam or just end it. The choice is theirs. I don’t think it will end without some sort of police action.

  5. Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro:

    They had the information. They did not act on it. And a question that I have, and one that I think we need to get to the bottom of, is who made the decision not to act ? people said today that there was ample evidence, that the intelligence agencies had ample evidence, that an angry mob was going to descend on Washington with Congress' meeting to certify the election as the intended target.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

descend#10000#25148#100000

Translations for descend

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

  • هبط, نزلArabic
  • спусці́цца, спуска́ццаBelarusian
  • налитам, слизам, спускам се, произлизам, нахвърлям се, предавам се по наследствоBulgarian
  • descendirCatalan, Valencian
  • sestoupitCzech
  • absteigen, niedergehen, herunterkommenGerman
  • κατεβαίνωGreek
  • descender, bajarSpanish
  • polveutua, laskeutua, vajota, laskea, [[mennä]] [[yksityiskohtiin]], pudota, alentua, periytyäFinnish
  • descendreFrench
  • ירדHebrew
  • उतरनाHindi
  • scendereItalian
  • 降りるJapanese
  • afstammen, afdalenDutch
  • davalar, descendre, descénderOccitan
  • descender, baixar, descerPortuguese
  • uray, bahayQuechua
  • proveni, descinde, coborîRomanian
  • сойти́, обру́шиваться, происходи́ть, обру́шиться, спусти́ться, спуска́ться, напа́сть, произойти́, напада́ть, сходи́тьRussian
  • pòtjecati, spuštati, sȋći, sìlaziti, spustitiSerbo-Croatian
  • இறங்கTamil
  • üşüşmek, alçalmak, soyundan gelmek, saldırmak, inmekTurkish
  • спусти́тися, спуска́тисяUkrainian

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"descend." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/descend>.

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