- [countable, usually singular] an action of coming or going down
- The plane began its descent to Heathrow.
- (figurative) the country’s swift descent into anarchy
Extra ExamplesTopics Transport by airc1- I made a slow and painful descent down the stairs.
- The engines failed on the plane's descent to Newark.
- The plane was making its final descent so we had to fasten our seat belts.
- The space capsule used parachutes to slow its descent.
- They began the difficult descent of the mountain's south face.
- We slowed the balloon's rate of descent.
- (figurative) his descent into alcoholism
- the descent from the top of the mountain
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- fast
- rapid
- swift
- …
- make
- begin
- start
- …
- during a/the descent
- on a/the descent
- descent down
- …
- a rate of descent
Definitions on the go
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- [countable] a slope going downwards
- There is a gradual descent to the sea.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- gentle
- steep
- [uncountable] a person’s family origins synonym ancestry
- to be of Scottish descent
- descent from somebody He traces his line of descent from the Stuart kings.
WordfinderExtra ExamplesTopics Historyc2, Family and relationshipsc2- She claims direct descent from Queen Victoria.
- Humans and other apes followed separate lines of descent from a common ancestor.
- She is Hungarian by descent.
- She is of mixed European and African descent.
- groups sharing a common descent
- people of West Indian descent
- Most European languages have a common descent.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- direct
- lineal
- common
- …
- claim
- have
- trace
- …
- by descent
- descent from
- a line of descent
- of Mexican, Scottish, etc. descent
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French descente, from descendre ‘to descend’, from Latin descendere, from de- ‘down’ + scandere ‘to climb’.
Check pronunciation:
descent