descent

American  

[dih-sent] / dɪˈsɛnt /

noun

• descents
  plural

1. 

   the act, process, or fact of moving from a higher to a lower position.

   Synonyms:

   drop, fall

2. a downward inclination or slope.

   Synonyms:

   slant, declivity, grade, decline

3. a passage or stairway leading down.

4. derivation from an ancestor; lineage; extraction.

   Synonyms:

   origin, parentage, ancestry

5. any passing from higher to lower in degree or state; decline.

   Synonyms:

   downturn, contraction, decline, plunge, drop, decrease

6. a sudden raid or hostile attack.

   Synonyms:

   incursion, raid, foray, assault

7. Law. transmission of real property by intestate succession.

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descent British  

/ dɪˈsɛnt /

noun

1. the act of descending

2. a downward slope or inclination

3. a passage, path, or way leading downwards

4. derivation from an ancestor or ancestral group; lineage

5. (in genealogy) a generation in a particular lineage

6. a decline or degeneration

7. a movement or passage in degree or state from higher to lower

8. (often foll by on) a sudden and overwhelming arrival or attack

9. property law (formerly) the transmission of real property to the heir on an intestacy

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Usage

What’s the difference between descent, dissent, and decent? Descent is a noun that means the act of moving downward (descending), a downward movement, or downward movement in general. Dissent can be a noun meaning disagreement, as in I voiced my dissent, or a verb meaning to disagree, as in The judge is expected to dissent. Decent is an adjective that means adequate or suitable, as in a decent meal, or good or respectable, as in a decent person. Descent and dissent are pronounced exactly the same. Perhaps the best way to remember the difference between them is to think about what related words mean and how they’re spelled. Words related to descent involve movement and are spelled with sc, including descend, ascent, ascension, and transcend. Words related to dissent involve agreement or disagreement and end with -sent, including assent and consent. Despite their similar spelling, descent and decent are pronounced differently. In descent, the emphasis is on the -scent part of the word, with the first part pronounced like dih. In decent, the emphasis is on the first part of the word, which is pronounced like dee. So how can you remember which one gets the s? Dropping the s is the decent thing to do, but you should pick it back up for your descent. (And if you dissent, pick up two s’s). Here’s an example of descent, dissent, and decent used correctly in a sentence. Example: There was dissent among the climbers about when they should make the descent, but they decided to do it while the weather was still decent.

Pop Culture

—Descent from the Cross: A biblical scene popularly depicted in art, of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus removing Christ from the cross after being crucified. — The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex: Charles Darwin's book on evolutionary theory, first published in 1871. —“The Descent”: A brief lyric poem by William Carlos Williams, first published in 1948. — The Descent: A science-fiction novel by Jeff Long, published in 1999. — The Descent: A British horror film, released in 2005 (with no relation to the novel of the same name).

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• predescent
  noun
• redescent
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• descents
  plural

Etymology

Origin of descent

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Anglo-French, Old French descente, derivative of descendre “to come down,” modeled on such pairs as vente, vendre; see origin at descend

Explanation

If you’re on your way down, you’re making a descent, whether that’s as a passenger in an airplane that's landing, or if you’re tumbling down a staircase you just slipped on. Descent comes from the verb descend — to go down. In the original Latin meaning, descent was used spatially, in reference to physical action, like going downstairs into a creepy basement. Metaphorically, though, we also use it to describe origins, especially in ancestry, when we consider ourselves descendants of our forebears.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

descent descents

At 05:40, the plane - which had briefly entered Jordanian airspace - looped back into Saudi Arabia, where it later started its manual descent for landing.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

They expected the dollar’s descent to continue into the second half of the year before bottoming near the end of the year, then turning higher in 2027.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026

Chelsey Calhoun, the investigating police detective, is also of Japanese descent, though she was adopted and knows nothing of her true parentage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

If the engine were to fail, for example, a pilot can sometimes perform an “autorotation” procedure to use altitude and forward momentum to force the rotors to turn, easing their descent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

We labored four miles up and over Blood Mountain—at 4,461 feet the highest and toughest eminence on the trail in Georgia—then began a steep and exciting two-mile descent towards Neels Gap.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

Norway's Eirik Hystad Solberg took the lead with the second fastest second leg in 57.03sec before some of the more established names in slalom skiing started their descents.

From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026

Think about whether to put your parent and child at the back of your tour group during long stair climbs and descents.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2025

One such sequence passed through the breakneck minuet of the 19th, the controlled delirium of the 20th and the clean, shiny descents of the 23rd to culminate in the famous 25th, the so-called black pearl.

From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2024

"You have to cope with the mountains, the night, hiking. You have to run fast on the flat, you have to be OK on technical terrain, in steep descents, runnable descents."

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2023

As she whipped around tight turns and down steep descents, the world whirling around her, Tally felt like something caught in the wind, not knowing which direction the journey would ultimately take her.

From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld

Related Words

• extraction
• lineage
• origin
• parentage