descended
Americanadjective
-
having a specified ancestry or ethnic origin.
She was the only daughter of a wealthy baron and his royally descended wife.
-
having gone from a higher place or position to a lower one.
The cooled and descended air then travels along the earth’s surface toward the equator to replace air rising from the equatorial zone.
He was hailed as some descended godhead on earth—an avatar.
-
inherited or transmitted, as through succeeding generations of a family.
Early mammals generally possessed claws, and all existing cat species carry that descended trait.
-
derived from something in the remote past, especially through continuous transmission.
Traditional religions tend to focus on descended practice and ritual rather than on doctrine taught by a religious institution.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of descended
First recorded in 1560–70; descend ( def. ) + -ed 2 ( def. ) for the adjective senses; descend ( def. ) + -ed 1 ( def. ) for the verb sense
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But before Johnson could arrive, protesters descended on the venue denouncing the governor, who had already arrived, as “corrupt.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 26, 2026
On his tours, Tanenhaus dives into Tulsa’s past as an oil boomtown, when ambitious types from across the country descended on the city and changed it in the process.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
He was a diminutive guitar deity who could only have descended in America, but calling him something so plain and mortal as “American” still feels close to sacrilege.
From Salon • Apr. 21, 2026
The tourists descended the hill after receiving the green light from the police.
From Barron's • Apr. 20, 2026
His mother, sister, and grandmother all descended on him, pulling him into a crowd of arms and kisses and yelling.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
