descendde‧scend /dɪˈsend/ ●●○ verb 
Our plane started to descend. I heard his footsteps descending the stairs.descend to/from/into etc The path continues for some way before descending to Garsdale Head.RegisterIn everyday English, people usually say go down or come down rather than descend:· They went down into the lobby.· I heard his footsteps coming down the stairs.2[intransitive] literary if darkness, silence, a feeling etc descends, it becomes dark etc or you start to feel something, especially suddenlydescend on/upon/over Total silence descended on the room. An air of gloom descended over the party headquarters.3in descending order (of something) numbers, choices etc that are in descending order are arranged from the highest or most important to the lowest or least important: The hotels are listed in descending order of price.descend from somebody/something phrasal verb1be descended from somebody to be related to a person or group who lived a long time ago: She claims to be descended from Abraham Lincoln. The people here are descended from the Vikings.2to have developed from something that existed in the past SYN come from: ideas that descend from those of ancient philosophersdescend on/upon somebody/something phrasal verb if a large number of people descend on a person or a place, they come to visit or stay, especially when they are not very welcome: Millions of tourists descend on the area every year.descend to something phrasal verb to behave or speak in an unpleasant way, which is not the way you usually behave SYN stoop to: Surely he wouldn’t descend to such a mean trick?descend to somebody’s level (=behave or speak as badly as someone else) Other people may gossip, but don’t descend to their level.
WORD ORIGINdescend
Origin:
1300-1400 Old French descendre, from Latin scandere ‘to climb’VERB TABLE
descend
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | descend |
| he, she, it | descends | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | descended |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have descended |
| he, she, it | has descended | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had descended |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will descend |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have descended |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am descending |
| he, she, it | is descending | |
| you, we, they | are descending | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was descending |
| you, we, they | were descending | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been descending |
| he, she, it | has been descending | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been descending |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be descending |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been descending |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Several climbers were descending the mountain.
- Slowly the two climbers descended the cliff face.
- The plane started to descend.
- We descended into the cave by a rope ladder.
- A Darkfall storm had descended on a factory in Leeds four years earlier.
- As you descend, you will slowly begin to feel the mystery and dankness of Carlsbad.
- Having finished, she descends a little way down the twig and then lays another batch.
- On shaking legs he began to descend.
- The cave descends almost vertically through a maze of boulders from a collapsed roof and is extremely wet and muddy.
- The reflex action at this point is to descend into cynicism.
- This circuitous approach gives jets lots of time to descend to the airport.
- When Stafford saw Cantor move slowly toward the right, he descended on the opposite side.
Longman Language Activatorto go down
to go down some stairs, a ladder, a slope etc: · You go down a steep slope, then turn left at the bottom of the hill.· Right, here's the ladder. Who's going down first?go down to: · I'll go down (=downstairs) to the kitchen and get you a glass of water.
if a plane, bomb etc comes down somewhere, it comes down to the ground there, especially by accident: · Airline officials believe that the plane came down somewhere in the Andes mountains.· One of the missiles came down in a heavily populated suburb of Beirut.
to fall straight downwards through the air: · When I let go of her hand, it dropped like a stone.drop onto/from/off etc: · The bottle rolled across the table, dropped onto the floor, and smashed.· One of your buttons has dropped off.
to come down through the air from a higher place: · Just as we were about to leave the house, rain began to fall.fall from/down/on etc: · Leaves were falling from the trees.· Bombs fell on the streets, destroying neighbouring homes, but leaving the school intact.
written to go down a slope, a mountain etc slowly and carefully: · Slowly the two climbers descended the cliff face.descend into/from etc: · We descended into the cave by a rope ladder.
if a plane or a bird dives , it moves quickly down through the air: · The engine did not re-start, and the plane dived to the ground.· The hawk stopped in mid-flight before diving down on its prey.
if a plane or a bird lands , it comes down to the ground in a controlled way: · He loves watching planes take off and land at the airport.land in/on/at: · We will be landing at Singapore airport at 3 am local time.· A flock of Canada geese landed on the river in front of us.
if a plane touches down , it arrives safely on the ground at an airport but has not yet stopped moving: · The King's private plane touched down at Heathrow airport at exactly 12.15 this afternoon.· We will be touching down in about an hour's time.
to visit a person to go and spend time with someone, especially in their home: · I visit my grandparents at least once a month.· Paul visited her every day when she was in hospital.· We won't be that far away - you'll be able to come and visit.
spoken to visit someone: · I'm going to see my brother and his family tomorrow.· Better go and see your father tonight.· Why don't you go and see your mother?go see American spoken: · You really should go see Mattie some time.
to visit someone at their house, especially if they live close to you: · I saw your Mum today, and I promised that we'd go round later.go over/go around/go round to: · Let's get a bottle of wine and go over to Simon's place.
if someone comes over or comes round , they visit you at your house, especially if they live close to you: · I'll come over at about 7 o'clock,· Why don't you come round later and we'll discuss it over dinner?
to visit someone, especially for a particular reason: pay a visit to somebody: · Your hand looks very swollen, I think you should pay a visit to the doctor.pay somebody a visit: · Isn't it time you paid your mother a visit?
to visit someone that you have not seen for a long time, while you are spending some time in the area where they live: look somebody up: · I'll give you my address so you can look me up whenever you're in London.look up somebody: · I looked up a few old friends while I was in Birmingham.
if a lot of people, especially members of your family, descend on you, all of them suddenly visit you at the same time: · Sorry for just descending on you like this, Pam -- we had nowhere else to stay.· The following week all my family descended upon me.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY The nation is in danger of falling into anarchy.
(=behave or speak as badly as someone else) Other people may gossip, but don’t descend to their level.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES Other people may gossip, but don’t descend to their level. The nation is in danger of falling into anarchy. (=gradually become completely confused and disorganized)· After the invasion, the country lapsed into chaos.
formal (=climb down)· He closed the hatch and descended the ladder.
(=with the lowest or highest number first)· The films are ranked in ascending order of profitability.
(=a silence begins)· A sudden silence fell over the room.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· Then they descended again to the concourse.· By the time the group reached Brescia, the clouds had descended again, and the factory was rather gloomy inside.· The Dark Times were again descending over the universe.· Marie-Angéle met her, deflected her; they spoke, and Madame turned to descend again.
· The pod appeared to be descending directly towards a winding ribbon of water.· The Yellowstone herd, which is directly descended from those last surviving bison, is of particular spiritual importance to those tribes.· At the bottom, the spiral staircase descends directly into area 70.
· When the world descended on Sydney last month it was with trepidation.· Long before night fell, serious parade lovers were descending on downtown to get a good seat.· Maura had seen the hammer descend on to the cartridge just as she heard Roy's voice come from the house.
· Reaching out for the banister rail, he switched on the torch and slowly descended the stairs.· As the land sank toward An Khe, I reduced the collective and let the ship descend slowly.· As Discovery curved still closer toward Saturn, the Sun slowly descended toward the multiple arches of the rings.
· The path then descends to the Pass of Ryvoan and from here back to the Glenmore car park.· She saw Alexei, paused and smiled, and then descended the few steps and came towards him.· She straightened the skirt that Thérèse had lent her, dusted it with both hands, then descended the stairs.· Path rises for ¼ mile then descends into valley. 3 Cross stream by easy natural stepping-stones as soon as it is reached.· The old road then descends to join the new.· She could then descend upon the Grand Hotel to take tea.· The command module would then descend to the sea on its parachutes.
· But what will not ambition and revenge Descend to?· Elsewhere, local authority treatment could descend to little more than fashionable mediocrity.· It seemed a poor thing to have descended to.· You have three minutes to descend to below the ceiling before the Solution goes into error mode.
NOUN· Man appears to be descended from patrilineal ancestors.· All plants and animals are, with hindsight, the same because they all descend from an ancestor three billion years old.· All these breeds descend from some wild ancestor.
· Ba'al was thought to have descended into the earth and the sacrifices and energy invigorated him and brought about his resurrection.· Every year buildings and streets descend deeper into the earth, four inches in some neighborhoods, one foot in others.· The victim settles horizontally, floating downwind as it waddles side to side, then gently descends to the earth.· Swore like a trooper, drank like a pagan, smoked like a bomber descending to earth.
· I descended to 500 feet, then continued descending with a Rate 1 on to final and continued the descent to 100 feet.· A Hiller in autorotation descends at 1700 feet per minute.· Vertical pitches descend 250 feet to an immense cavern, second in dimensions only to the chamber in Gaping Gill.· I avoided the mob on the path by descending 200 feet sledging on my rucksack on a long snow bank.
· It is an earthwork which appears to descend into the ground and is partially buried in the soil.· I descended to the ground floor, passing a man in his mid-sixties, clutching a twenty-dollar bill.· Behind him, the lift shuddered and began to descend to the ground floor.· Flying over Normandy he descended to ground level to escape the fog and to find his bearings.
· A turbulent black cloud like a rumpled sheet seemed to descend from heaven.
· However, it is important that we do not descend to their level.· But soon after that he descended to an unreachable level.· If I use violence I descend to his level.· Otherwise nothing useful will be achieved and, instead of debate, we shall descend to the level of vulgar slanging matches.
· Venables broke both legs in a 90m fall while descending the mountain after the first ascent.
· The list will be presented in descending numerical order of identifier.· The table is now sorted in descending order according to the Amount field, as shown in figure 11. 5.· The groups were themselves divided, in descending order, into offices, divisions, and branches.· We also want this table sorted by the amount that the clients owe in descending order.· This is also a list in descending order of color from orange-red to pale pink.
· The path then descends to the Pass of Ryvoan and from here back to the Glenmore car park.· The path descends to run by the Allt Coire Ardair.· I avoided the mob on the path by descending 200 feet sledging on my rucksack on a long snow bank.· Turn right, with a steep drop on the left where the path descends towards the Upper Neuadd reservoir.· From here the path descends to the top of Summerhouse Crag which stands over the Llugwy Gorge.
· The road descends the hill and passes along the garden fronts of the houses.· Turn right here, and the road gradually descends to the little town of Appenzell.· The old road then descends to join the new.
· As dawn began to lighten the sky they topped the rise of another mist-shrouded valley and began to descend the other side.· When Stafford saw Cantor move slowly toward the right, he descended on the opposite side.· From the summit the path then turns a little to the left to descend the other side of the hill towards Ryvoan bothy.· They spent an hour descending one side of a large valley, only to take twice as long ascending the other side.
· One might mention an object or a locality, and sepulchral silence would descend.· And now the uproar that he had finally raised was dying away, and a gratifying silence was descending once again.· Which rats left which ship. Silence was descending all over the city.· He can make an event of a particular silence descending upon the river.· He felt silence descend and press on him.· It was in 1933 when the explosive din suddenly stopped and an eerie silence descended on Boulder Canyon.· As the Archon entered, a silence descended over the gathered parliamentarians.· A wall of silence has now descended over the key players.
· He was descended from slaves who had accompanied their master, one Rafe Straker, from Long Island in 1783.· One family has a Confederate cavalryman among its forebears, the other is descended from slaves.
· I have a vivid memory of her descending the stairs to the conservatory where we said our vows.· What do I do there in my rooms before I descend the stairs, return through the door, and wake?· And she descended the stairs and, tapping lightly on the door, turned the handle and went in.· The little orchestra was playing a minuet when she began to descend the sumptuously draped stairs.· Slowly I descended the stairs and went out into the courtyard.· As she descended the stairs, she appreciated for the first time how far she had fallen from grace.· Instead, they get the splendor of descending the stairs to their official welcome.
· Ruth's legs were soon aching with climbing steps, only to turn and descend another staircase in the opposite direction.· Falling asleep is like descending a staircase, with each stage of sleep becoming deeper than the previous one.· She dried herself, wrapped the soft, fragrant robe around her slim body and cautiously descended the staircase.· At seven-thirty Paige descended the grand sweeping staircase to the hall.· He attempted to descend a steep staircase which had no handrail, whilst holding a small child by the hand.
VERB· The little orchestra was playing a minuet when she began to descend the sumptuously draped stairs.· As dawn began to lighten the sky they topped the rise of another mist-shrouded valley and began to descend the other side.· Behind him, the lift shuddered and began to descend to the ground floor.· Delaney dropped to his belly and snake-like began to descend, head first, down the ladder.· On shaking legs he began to descend.· She reached the far side of the ridge and heard children's voices as she began to descend.· He forced himself to bow politely, and then turned away and began to descend the stairs.· As one tank approaches the top of the incline, the other begins to descend into the water at the lower level.
· But once he started descending, it was a different matter entirely.· Lightheartedly, full of such deep contentment, I start to descend.· That soon changed once the jet had started to descend into its approach and landing into Pulkovo Airport.· She pushed the yoke forward and the plane's nose dipped as it started descending towards the runway.· They start to descend the rivers, resting on the bottom during the day and travelling mostly at night.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRYPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
1[intransitive, transitive] formal to move from a higher level to a lower one OPP ascend: - Another beneficial trick is to re-order the rows and columns of a table in descending order of marginal totals.
- Follow these steps to re-sort our table in descending order: 1.
- It will allocate them in descending order from the highest priced bid to the lowest.
- The balance sheet in Table 16.2 shows the various sterling assets of the recognized banks in descending order of liquidity.
- The groups were themselves divided, in descending order, into offices, divisions, and branches.
- The table indicates which categories each of the six companies found useful; the categories are listed in descending order of usefulness.
- The table is now sorted in descending order according to the Amount field, as shown in figure 11. 5.
- We also want this table sorted by the amount that the clients owe in descending order.
- Stu's mother is descended from Cherokee Indians.
- All Gauls claimed to be descended from him.
- Because they were descended from them, many sometimes descending from a single ancestral species.
- If you believe in evolution, you believe man is descended from primates, and primates are vegetarian.
- One family has a Confederate cavalryman among its forebears, the other is descended from slaves.
- Power still comes from a small block, two-valve push-rod V-8 whose principal architecture is descended from the 1953 original.
- The University of Edinburgh's most famous dropout, Charles Darwin, pointed out that human beings are descended from animals.
- Through him the Merovingians can thus claim to be descended from Noah.
- When he jokingly referred to the story that he was descended from the Devil he meant no disrespect to his ancestor Woden.
- Betas must so live, learn, and work that we shall not sink to the cultural level of the Alphas.
- But soon after that he descended to an unreachable level.
- But whatever she is guilty of ... she can never sink to your level.
- Flying over Normandy he descended to ground level to escape the fog and to find his bearings.
- However, it is important that we do not descend to their level.
- If I use violence I descend to his level.
- In particular, coal stocks had sunk to a level below that at which distribution and use could operate efficiently.
- Otherwise nothing useful will be achieved and, instead of debate, we shall descend to the level of vulgar slanging matches.
Our plane started to descend. I heard his footsteps descending the stairs.descend to/from/into etc The path continues for some way before descending to Garsdale Head.RegisterIn everyday English, people usually say go down or come down rather than descend:· They went down into the lobby.· I heard his footsteps coming down the stairs.2[intransitive] literary if darkness, silence, a feeling etc descends, it becomes dark etc or you start to feel something, especially suddenlydescend on/upon/over Total silence descended on the room. An air of gloom descended over the party headquarters.3in descending order (of something) numbers, choices etc that are in descending order are arranged from the highest or most important to the lowest or least important: The hotels are listed in descending order of price.descend from somebody/something phrasal verb1be descended from somebody to be related to a person or group who lived a long time ago: She claims to be descended from Abraham Lincoln. The people here are descended from the Vikings.2to have developed from something that existed in the past SYN come from: ideas that descend from those of ancient philosophersdescend on/upon somebody/something phrasal verb if a large number of people descend on a person or a place, they come to visit or stay, especially when they are not very welcome: Millions of tourists descend on the area every year.descend to something phrasal verb to behave or speak in an unpleasant way, which is not the way you usually behave SYN stoop to: Surely he wouldn’t descend to such a mean trick?descend to somebody’s level (=behave or speak as badly as someone else) Other people may gossip, but don’t descend to their level.