descend
pronunciation
How to pronounce descend in British English:
UK [dɪˈsend]
How to pronounce descend in American English:
US [dɪˈsend]
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- Verb:
- move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
- come from; be connected by a relationship of blood, for example
- do something that one considers to be below one's dignity
- come as if by falling
Word Origin
- descend
- descend: [13] Etymologically, descend means ‘climb down’. Like its opposite, ascend [14], it comes ultimately from Latin scandere ‘climb’, which also produced English scan and scansion and is related to echelon, escalate, scale ‘set of graduated marks’, scandal, and slander. The Latin verb was a product of the Indo-European base *skand- ‘jump’.=> ascend, echelon, escalate, scale, scan, scandal, slander
- descend (v.)
- c. 1300, from Old French descendre (10c.) "descend, dismount; fall into; originate in," from Latin descendere "come down, descend, sink," from de- "down" (see de-) + scandere "to climb," from PIE root *skand- "jump" (see scan (v.)). Sense of "originate" is late 14c. in English. Related: Descended; descending.
Example
- 1. They also have difficulty with stairs and descend feet-first .
- 2. By late afternoon , we descend the mountain trail to a thai inn .
- 3. Huge crowds descend the store 's glass staircase , only to discover legions of mostly young chinese crowding around spare displays of apple 's devices .
- 4. Just as the colonel 's curtain of fear had begun to descend once again , the promise of international protection will hoist it back up .
- 5. Aircraft do more than just take off , climb , cruise , descend and land , however .