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Descent vs Descension - What's the difference?

descent | descension |

As nouns the difference between descent and descension

is that descent is an instance of descending while descension is descent; the act of descending.

descent

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • An instance of descending
    • We climbed the mountain with difficulty, but the descent was easier.
  • * 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
    • The next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started the descent .
  • A way down.
    • We had difficulty in finding the correct descent .
  • A sloping passage or incline.
    • The descent into the cavern was wet and slippery.
  • Lineage or hereditary derivation
    • Our guide was of Welsh descent .
  • A drop to a lower status or condition.
    • After that, the holiday went into a steep descent .

    Usage notes

    * Sometimes confused with (decent).

    Related terms

    * descend

    Antonyms

    * (going down) ascent

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    *

    descension

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • * 1597 , William Shakespeare, Henry IV part I , II.5:
    • From a God to a Bull? a heavy descension . It was Jove's case.
  • (astronomy, obsolete) The descent below the horizon of a celestial body.
  • * 1646 , Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica , VI.3:
    • For in regard of time (as we elsewhere declare) the stars do vary their longitudes, and consequently the times of their ascension and descension .
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