Descending - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

de·scend Audio Help   (dĭ-sěnd') Pronunciation Key
v.   de·scend·ed, de·scend·ing, de·scends

v.   intr.

To move from a higher to a lower place; come or go down.
To slope, extend, or incline downward: "A rough path descended like a steep stair into the plain" (J.R.R. Tolkien).
1. To come from an ancestor or ancestry: He was descended from a pioneer family.
2. To come down from a source; derive: a tradition descending from colonial days.
3. To pass by inheritance: The house has descended through four generations.
To lower oneself; stoop: "She, the conqueror, had descended to the level of the conquered" (James Bryce).
To proceed or progress downward, as in rank, pitch, or scale: titles listed in descending order of importance; notes that descended to the lower register.
To arrive or attack in a sudden or an overwhelming manner: summer tourists descending on the seashore village.

v. tr.

1. To move from a higher to a lower part of; go down.
2. To get down from: "People descended the minibus that shuttled guests to the nearby . . . beach" (Howard Kaplan).
To extend or proceed downward along: a road that descended the mountain in sharp curves.

[Middle English descenden, from Old French descendre, from Latin dēscendere : dē-, de- + scandere, to climb; see skand- in Indo-European roots.]

de·scend'i·ble, de·scend'a·ble adj.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Descending

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

descending
adjective
coming down or downward [ant: ascending]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Descending

De*scend"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Descended; p. pr. & vb. n. Descending.] [F. descendre, L. descendere, descensum; de- + scandere to climb. See Scan.]

1. 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.

The rain descended, and the floods came. --Matt. vii. 25.

We will here descend to matters of later date. --Fuller.

2. To enter mentally; to retire. [Poetic]

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

3. 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.

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

6. 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. (Anat.) To move toward the south, or to the southward.

8. (Mus.) To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone.

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