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descending - 4 dictionary results

de⋅scend

  [di-send]
Use descending in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to go or pass from a higher to a lower place; move or come down: to descend from the mountaintop.
2. to pass from higher to lower in any scale or series.
3. to go from generals to particulars, as in a discussion.
4. to slope, tend, or lead downward: The path descends to the pond.
5. to be inherited or transmitted, as through succeeding generations of a family: The title descends through eldest sons.
6. to have a specific person or family among one's ancestors (usually fol. by from): He is descended from Cromwell.
7. to be derived from something remote in time, esp. through continuous transmission: This festival descends from a druidic rite.
8. to approach or pounce upon, esp. in a greedy or hasty manner (fol. by on or upon): Thrill-seekers descended upon the scene of the crime.
9. to settle, as a cloud or vapor.
10. to appear or become manifest, as a supernatural being, state of mind, etc.: Jupiter descended to humankind.
11. to attack, esp. with violence and suddenness (usually fol. by on or upon): to descend upon enemy soldiers.
12. to sink or come down from a certain intellectual, moral, or social standard: He would never descend to baseness.
13. Astronomy. to move toward the horizon, as the sun or a star.
–verb (used with object)
14. to move downward upon or along; go or climb down (stairs, a hill, etc.).
15. to extend or lead down along: The path descends the hill.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME descenden < OF descendre < L dēscendere, equiv. to dē- de- + -scendere, comb. form of scandere to climb; cf. scansion

Related forms:
de⋅scend⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To descending
de·scend   (dĭ-sěnd')   
v.   de·scend·ed, de·scend·ing, de·scends

v.   intr.
  1. To move from a higher to a lower place; come or go down.
  2. 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.
  4. To lower oneself; stoop: "She, the conqueror, had descended to the level of the conquered" (James Bryce).
  5. 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.
  6. 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).
  2. 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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Descending

De*scend"ing\, a. Of or pertaining to descent; moving downwards.

Descending constellations or signs (Astron.), those through which the planets descent toward the south.

Descending node (Astron.), that point in a planet's orbit where it intersects the ecliptic in passing southward.

Descending series (Math.), a series in which each term is numerically smaller than the preceding one; also, a series arranged according to descending powers of a quantity.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Main Entry: de·scend·ing
Pronunciation: 'dE-"sen-di[ng], di-'
Function: adjective
1 : moving or directed downward <descendinginfection from the kidney —Therapeutic Notes>
2 : being a nerve, nerve fiber, or nerve tract that carries nerve impulses in a direction away from the centralnervous system : EFFERENT, MOTOR descending branch of a nerve>
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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