Definition

1. Noun:
   • A movement downward: The act of moving or going from a higher to a lower position or level.
   • A downward slope or incline: A path, surface, or route that goes down.
   • Family origin or lineage: The background or ancestry from which a person comes; the people from whom one is descended.
   • A decline or deterioration: A movement toward a lower, worse, or less active state.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • The plane began its descent toward the airport. (A movement downward)
  • The hikers carefully navigated the steep descent. (A downward slope)
  • She is of Italian descent. (Family origin or lineage)
  • The country's economic descent into chaos was rapid. (A decline or deterioration)

Advanced Usage

• "To be of noble descent": To come from a family of high social rank.
  • The count was a man of noble descent.
• "To trace one's descent": To research and identify one's ancestors.
  • He traced his descent back to the 16th century.

Variants and Related Words

• Descend (verb): To move from a higher to a lower place; to come down.
  • The path descends to the valley.
• Descendant (noun): A person, plant, or animal that is descended from a particular ancestor.
  • She is a descendant of the original settlers.
• Descendent (adj): Moving or sloping downward. (Note: This spelling is less common than "descendant" for the noun form).
• Descent group (noun, Anthropology): A social group whose members claim common ancestry.

Synonyms

• Decline: A gradual and continuous loss of strength, numbers, quality, or value.
• Drop: A fall or reduction in amount, level, or degree.
• Lineage: Direct descent from an ancestor; ancestry or pedigree.
• Ancestry: One's family or ethnic descent.

Related Phrases

• Make a descent: To perform an act of moving downward, often used in aviation or mountaineering.
  • The pilot prepared to make a descent through the clouds.
• Descent from grace: A fall from a state of favor, virtue, or high status. (A variation of "fall from grace").
  • The scandal marked his descent from grace.

Related Idioms

• Descent into madness/chaos: A process of rapidly becoming insane or a situation becoming completely disordered.
  • The novel charts the character's descent into madness.

Noun

1. the descendants of one individual
   • his entire lineage has been warriors
2. a downward slope or bend
3. the kinship relation between an individual and the individual's progenitors
4. the act of changing your location in a downward direction
5. properties attributable to your ancestry
   • he comes from good origins
6. a movement downward