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Descendent vs Descend - What's the difference?

descendent | descend |

As an adjective descendent

is descending; going down.

As a verb descend is

to pass from a higher to a lower place; to move downwards; to come or go down in any way, as by falling, flowing, walking, etc; to plunge; to fall; to incline downward.

descendent

English

Alternative forms

* descendant

Adjective

(-)
  • descending; going down
  • The elevator resumed its descendent trajectory.
  • descending from (an ancestor)
  • Power in the kingdom is transferred in a descendent manner.

    Usage notes

    The adjective, "descending from a biological ancestor", may be spelt either with an a]]'' or with an ''e'' in the final syllable (see descendant). However the noun ''descendant'', "one who is the progeny of someone", may be spelt only with an ''[[-ant, a . ----

    descend

    English

    (Webster 1913)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To pass from a higher to a lower place; to move downwards; to come or go down in any way, as by falling, flowing, walking, etc.; to plunge; to fall; to incline downward
  • The rain descended , and the floods came. Matthew vii. 25.
    We will here descend to matters of later date. Fuller.
  • (poetic) To enter mentally; to retire.
  • [He] with holiest meditations fed, Into himself descended . .
  • (with on or upon) To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence.
  • And on the suitors let thy wrath descend . .
  • To come down to a lower, less fortunate, humbler, less virtuous, or worse, state or station; to lower or abase one's self
  • he descended from his high estate
  • To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered.
  • To come down, as from a source, original, or stock; to be derived; to proceed by generation or by transmission; to fall or pass by inheritance.
  • the beggar may descend from a prince
    a crown descends to the heir
  • (anatomy) To move toward the south, or to the southward.
  • (music) To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone.
  • To go down upon or along; to pass from a higher to a lower part of
  • they descended the river in boats; to descend a ladder
    But never tears his cheek descended . .

    Synonyms

    * go down

    Antonyms

    * ascend * go up

    Derived terms

    * descender