- 1[intransitive, transitive] (formal) to come or go down from a higher to a lower level The plane began to descend. The results, ranked in descending order (= from the highest to the lowest) are as follows: descend something She descended the stairs slowly. opposite ascend
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- 2[intransitive] (formal) (of a hill, etc.) to slope downward At this point the path descends steeply. opposite ascend
- 3[intransitive] (literary) (of night, darkness, a mood, etc.) to arrive and begin to affect someone or something synonym fall Night descends quickly in the tropics. descend on/upon somebody/something Calm descended on the crowd. Phrasal Verbsbe descended fromdescend intodescend ondescend to
descend
verbNAmE//dɪˈsɛnd//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they descend he / she / it descends
past simple descended
-ing form descending
Check pronunciation: descend