FromMiddle English andAnglo-Normandescente, fromAnglo-Normandescendre(“to descend”); seedescend. Compareascent,ascend.Doublet ofdesant.

• (UK)IPA^(key):/dɪˈsɛnt/
• (General American)IPA^(key):/dəˈsɛnt/,/dɪˈsɛnt/,/diˈsɛnt/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-ɛnt
• Homophone:dissent(for some dialects)

descent (countable anduncountable,pluraldescents)

1. An instance ofdescending; act of coming down.

   We climbed the mountain with difficulty, but thedescent was easier.

   • 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, inRailway Magazine, page 7:

     Thedescent continues, still more steeply to Dundee (Tay Bridge), and approaching from the bridge itself this sharpdescent gives the curious appearance that the station is below the level of the firth.

   • 1961 October, 'Voyageur', “The Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway”, inTrains Illustrated, page601:

     To the north the towering scree-strewn slopes of Saddleback begin to draw nearer as we start the abruptdescent towardsKeswick.

   • 2012 July 15, Richard Williams,Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track‎^[1], Guardian Unlimited:

     The next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started thedescent.

2. Awaydown.

   We had difficulty in finding the correctdescent.

3. Aslopingpassage orincline.

   Thedescent into the cavern was wet and slippery.

4. Lineage orhereditaryderivation.

   Our guide was of Welshdescent.

5. Adrop to alowerstatus orcondition;decline.(Can we add anexample for this sense?)

   After that, the holiday went into a steepdescent.

6. A falling upon or invasion.
7. (topology) A particularextension of the idea ofgluing.

• Sometimes confused withdecent.

• (antonym(s) of“going down”):ascent

• descend

• “descent”, inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney,Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “descent”, inThe Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC.

• cedents,scented