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descend.

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

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/dɪˈsɛnd/Received-Pronunciation/dəˈsɛnd/General-American/dɪˈsɛnd/General-American/diˈsɛnd/General-American
  1. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. 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.

    transitive
    they descended the river in boats
    to descend a ladder
  2. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. Of a flight of stairs, a road, etc.: to lead down (a hill, a slope, etc.).

    transitive
    They took the steep path that descends the hill down to the beach.
  3. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. To move (someone or something) from a higher to a lower place or position; to bring or send (someone or something) down.

    archaic · transitive
  4. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. 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
  5. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. 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. 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.

    intransitive
  6. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. 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. Of a celestial body: to move away from the zenith towards the horizon; to sink; also, to move towards the south.

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

    intransitive
    Cryptorchidism is the failure of one or both testes to descend into the scrotum.
  8. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. 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. Of a liquid substance: to distil out from another substance and gather at the bottom of a container; also, to distil a substance to obtain another liquid substance in this manner.

    intransitive · obsolete
  9. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. To slope or stretch downwards.

    intransitive
  10. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. To alight from a carriage, a horse, etc.; also, to disembark from a vessel; to land.

    historical · intransitive
  11. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. To come or go down, or reduce, in intensity or some other quality.

    figuratively · intransitive
  12. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. 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.

    figuratively · intransitive
  13. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. 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.

    figuratively · intransitive
  14. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. Chiefly followed by into or to: of a situation: to become worse; to decline, to deteriorate.

    figuratively · intransitive
    The meeting descended into chaos.
  15. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. Chiefly followed by on or upon: to make an attack or incursion, from or as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence.

    figuratively · intransitive
  16. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. Chiefly followed by on or upon: to arrive suddenly or unexpectedly, especially in a manner that causes disruption or inconvenience.

    figuratively · intransitive
    My neighbour descended upon me just as I was walking out the door.
  17. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. To come down to a humbler or less fortunate, or a worse or less virtuous, rank or state; to abase or lower oneself; to condescend or stoop to something.

    figuratively · intransitive
    He descended from his high estate.
  18. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. Chiefly in the form descend into (or within) oneself: to mentally enter a state of (deep) meditation or thought; to retire.

    figuratively · intransitive · poetic
  19. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. Of a sequence or series: to proceed from higher to lower values.

    figuratively · intransitive
  20. Senses relating to moving from a higher to a lower position. To pass from a higher to a lower note or tone; to fall in pitch.

    figuratively · intransitive
  21. Senses relating to passing down from a source to another thing. To trace (a lineage) from earlier to later generations.

    obsolete · rare · transitive
  22. Senses relating to passing down from a source to another thing. Of a characteristic: to be transmitted from a parent to a child.

    intransitive
  23. Senses relating to passing down from a source to another thing. Chiefly followed by from or (obsolete) of: to come down or derive from an ancestor or ancestral stock, or a source; to originate, to stem.

    intransitive
    The beggar may descend from a prince.
  24. Senses relating to passing down from a source to another thing. Of property, a right, etc.: to pass down to a generation, a person, etc., by inheritance.

    intransitive
    The crown descends to the heir of the previous monarch.
Where this word comes from

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”)). The noun is derived from the verb.

noun/dɪˈsɛnd/Received-Pronunciation/dəˈsɛnd/General-American/dɪˈsɛnd/General-American/diˈsɛnd/General-American
  1. Synonym of descent (“instance of descending; sloping incline or passage; way down; decline, etc.”).

    archaic
Where this word comes from

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”)). The noun is derived from the verb.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.