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 .

Noun

(ethnicities)

The common characteristics of a group of people.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April

, author=(Jan Sapp) , title=Race Finished , volume=100, issue=2, page=164 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity , genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?}}

An ethnic group.