Descent vs Descendant - What's the difference?
descent | descendant |
An instance of descending
* 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited,
A way down.
A sloping passage or incline.
Lineage or hereditary derivation
A drop to a lower status or condition.
descending from a biological ancestor.
proceeding from a figurative ancestor or source.
(literally) One who is the progeny of a specified person, at any distance of time or through any number of generations.
(figuratively) A thing that derives directly from a given precursor or source.
(biology) A later evolutionary type.
(linguistics) A language that is descended from another.
(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,
As nouns the difference between descent and descendant
is that descent is an instance of descending while descendant is one who is the progeny of a specified person, at any distance of time or through any number of generations.As an adjective descendant is
descending from a biological ancestor.descent
English
Noun
(en noun)- We climbed the mountain with difficulty, but the descent was easier.
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 .
- We had difficulty in finding the correct descent .
- The descent into the cavern was wet and slippery.
- Our guide was of Welsh descent .
- After that, the holiday went into a steep descent .
Usage notes
* Sometimes confused with (decent).Antonyms
* (going down) ascentExternal links
* *Anagrams
*descendant
English
Adjective
(-)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
* descendentAntonyms
* ascendant, ascendent, ascendingNoun
(en noun)- ''The patriarch survived many descendants : five children, a dozen grandchildren, even a great grandchild.
- ''This famous medieval manuscript has many descendants .
- ''Dogs evolved as descendants of early wolves.
- English and Scots are the descendants of Old English.
page 479:
- The direct descendant of this form is the Slavic aorist: Sb.-Cr. n?s?'', ''d?nos? .