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Descendant vs Dependant - What's the difference?

descendant | dependant |

As adjectives the difference between descendant and dependant

is that descendant is descending from a biological ancestor while dependant is dependent.

As nouns the difference between descendant and dependant

is that descendant is (literally) one who is the progeny of a specified person, at any distance of time or through any number of generations while dependant is dependent; one who is dependent.

As a verb dependant is

.

descendant

English

Adjective

(-)
  • descending from a biological ancestor.
  • proceeding from a figurative ancestor or source.

    • Usage notes

    The adjective may be spelled either with ant'' or ''ent'' as the final syllable (see descendent). The noun may be spelled only with ''ant .

    Alternative forms

    * descendent

    Antonyms

    * ascendant, ascendent, ascending

    Related terms

    * descendancy

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (literally) One who is the progeny of a specified person, at any distance of time or through any number of generations.
    • ''The patriarch survived many descendants : five children, a dozen grandchildren, even a great grandchild.
  • (figuratively) A thing that derives directly from a given precursor or source.
    • ''This famous medieval manuscript has many descendants .
  • (biology) A later evolutionary type.
    • ''Dogs evolved as descendants of early wolves.
  • (linguistics) A language that is descended from another.
    • English and Scots are the descendants of Old English.
  • (linguistics) A word or form in one language that is descended from a counterpart in an ancestor language.
  • * 1993 , Jens Elmegård Rasmussen, “The Slavic i''-verbs with an excursus on the Indo-European ''?''-verbs”, in Bela Brogyanyi and Reiner Lipp (editors), ''Comparative-Historical Linguistics , John Benjamins Publishing, ISBN 978-90-272-3598-5, page 479:
    • The direct descendant of this form is the Slavic aorist: Sb.-Cr. n?s?'', ''d?nos? .

    Usage notes

    The adjective may be spelled either with ant'' or ''ent'' as the final syllable (see descendent). The noun may be spelled only with ''ant .

    Synonyms

    * * *

    Antonyms

    * ascendant * ancestor * forebear

    Derived terms

    * direct descendant * indirect descendant

    See also

    * offspring * offshoot * progeny ----

    dependant

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (British) A person who depends on another for support, particularly financial support (= US dependent).
  • (US)

    • References

    * Merriam-Webster Indicating only US spelling is "dependent" (redirects, lists British spelling as a "variant".)'' * Pam Peters, The Cambridge Guide to English Usage , pp. 148-149. * Encarta Always a misspelling in US English, adjective and noun are differentiated in British English by spelling.