katabasis

[ kuh-tab-uh-sis ]

noun,plural ka·tab·a·ses [kuh-tab-uh-seez]. /kəˈtæb əˌsiz/.
  1. a march from the interior of a country to the coast, as that of the 10,000 Greeks after their defeat and the death of Cyrus the Younger at Cunaxa.

  2. a retreat, especially a military retreat.

Origin of katabasis

1
1830–40; <Greek katábasis a going down, descent, equivalent to kataba- (stem of katabaínein to go down) + -sis-sis. See kata-, basis

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British Dictionary definitions for katabasis

katabasis

/ (kəˈtæbəsɪs) /


nounplural -ses (-ˌsiːz)
  1. the retreat of the Greek mercenaries of Cyrus the Younger, after his death at Cunaxa, from the Euphrates to the Black Sea in 401–400 bc under the leadership of Xenophon: recounted in his Anabasis: Compare anabasis

  2. literary a retreat

Origin of katabasis

1
C19: from Greek: a going down, from katabainein to go down

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