Meaning

24 senses

  1. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position.

    (transitive)To pass from a higher to a lower part of (something, such as a flight of stairs or a slope); to go down along or upon.

    they descended the river in boats

    to descend a ladder

  2. (transitive)Of a flight of stairs, a road, etc.: to lead down (a hill, a slope, etc.).

    They took the steep path that descends the hill down to the beach.

  3. (intransitive)To physically move or pass from a higher to a lower place or position; to come or go down in any way, such as by climbing, falling, flowing, walking, etc.; to move downwards; to fall, to sink.

  4. To physically move or pass from a higher to a lower place or position; to come or go down in any way, such as by climbing, falling, flowing, walking, etc.; to move downwards; to fall, to sink.

    (intransitive)Of a zodiac sign: to move away from the zenith towards the horizon; to sink; also, of a planet: to move to a place where it has less astrological significance.

  5. (intransitive)Of a celestial body: to move away from the zenith towards the horizon; to sink; also, to move towards the south.

  6. (intransitive)Of a body part: to move downwards, especially during development of the embryo; specifically, of the testes of a mammal: to move downwards from the abdominal cavity into the scrotum.

    Cryptorchidism is the failure of one or both testes to descend into the scrotum.

  7. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position.

    (intransitive)To slope or stretch downwards.

  8. (historical, intransitive)To alight from a carriage, a horse, etc.; also, to disembark from a vessel; to land.

  9. (figuratively, intransitive)To come or go down, or reduce, in intensity or some other quality.

  10. (figuratively, intransitive)Of a physical thing (such as a cloud or storm) or a (generally negative) immaterial thing (such as darkness, gloom, or silence): to settle upon and start to affect a person or place.

  11. (figuratively, intransitive)In speech or writing: to proceed from one matter to another; especially, to pass from more general or important to specific or less important matters to be considered.

  12. (figuratively, intransitive)Chiefly followed by into or to: of a situation: to become worse; to decline, to deteriorate.

    The meeting descended into chaos.

Examples

130 sentences

  1. The sun descended behind the mountains.

    deDie Sonne ging hinter den Bergen unter. — Manfredo

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  2. Tom started to descend the stairs.

    ruТом начал спускаться по лестнице. — awiz

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  3. Scientists think that dogs descended from wolves.

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  4. Is it true dogs descended from wolves?

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  5. Did you know that dogs descended from wolves?

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Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
to physically move or pass from a higher to a lower place or position:
Русский
By meaning 3
to physically move or pass from a higher to a lower place or position:
to make an attack or incursion, from or as if from a vantage ground:
to come down or derive from an ancestor or ancestral stock, or a source — see also originate, stem:
Deutsch
By meaning 3
to pass from a higher to a lower part of (something):
to physically move or pass from a higher to a lower place or position:
of a characteristic: to be transmitted from a parent to a child:

Origin

The verb is derived from Middle English descenden (“to move downwards, fall, descend; to s

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”)).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

descends, descending, descended, descended
Base formdescend · to descend
3rd person singulardescends
Present participledescending
Past simpledescended
Past participledescended

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theydescend
he, she, itdescends

Past simpleLesson

all personsdescended

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave descended
he, she, ithas descended

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill descend

Synonyms

9 synonyms
degenerate
Close in meaning

Antonyms

4 antonyms
ascendclimbA2go upriseB1

Word family

20 related words
RelateddescentC1scanB2ascendcondescenddescendantscandenttranscenddescendent
Deriveddescendibledescendancedescendancydescendencedescendencydescenderdescendingdescend ondescend uponmaldescendedredescendundescended

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

Collocations

3 patterns
  • descended from wolves
  • dogs descended from
  • dogs descended

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
derogatoryderrydesalinationdescendantdescentC1describeA1
descend — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto