descent, n.
1 a the act of descending. b an instance of this. c a downward movement.
2 a a way or path etc. by which one may descend. b a downward slope.
3 a being descended; lineage, family origin (traces his descent from William the Conqueror). b the transmission of qualities, property, privileges, etc., by inheritance.
4 a a decline; a fall. b a lowering (of pitch, temperature, etc.).
5 a sudden violent attack.

Etymology

ME f. OF descente f. descendre DESCEND

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THESAURUS

descent

Brownian movement, Indian file, abasement, advance, affiliation, altitude peak, angular motion, apparentation, array, articulation, ascending, ascent, automatic control, axial motion, backflowing, backing, backset, backward motion, bank, birth, blast-off, blood, bloodline, branch, breed, brood, burn, burnout, buzz, career, catena, catenation, ceiling, chain, chain reaction, chaining, characterize, check, children, climbing, comedown, coming after, common ancestry, communicate, concatenation, concavity, connection, consanguinity, consecution, consecutiveness, construe, continuation, continuity, continuum, course, current, cycle, de-escalation, debasement, decadence, decadency, declension, declination, decline, declivity, deflation, deformation, degeneracy, degenerateness, degeneration, degradation, delineate, demotion, depict, depravation, depravedness, depreciation, depression, derivation, derogation, descendants, descending, describe, deterioration, detrusion, devolution, diminution, dip, direct line, discomfiture, disgrace, distaff side, distinguish, down, downgate, downgrade, downhill, downtrend, downturn, downward mobility, downward motion, downward trend, drift, driftage, drone, drop, ducking, dump, dying, ebb, ebbing, effeteness, elucidate, embarrassment, end of burning, endless belt, endless round, exemplify, explain, explicate, expound, extension, extraction, fading, failing, failure, failure of nerve, fall, falling-off, family, female line, file, filiation, flight, flow, flux, following, forward motion, fruit, gamut, gradation, grade, gradient, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, hang, hangdog look, hanging, hauling down, heirs, hollowness, hostages to fortune, house, hum, humbled pride, humiliation, ignition, illustrate, image, impact, impart, incline, inheritors, interpret, involution, issue, kids, lapse, launch, letdown, lift-off, limn, line, line of descent, lineage, little ones, logical sequence, loss of tone, lowering, male line, monotone, mortification, mounting, narrate, new generation, nexus, oblique motion, offspring, ongoing, onrush, order, order of succession, origin, passage, pedigree, pendulum, periodicity, phylum, picture, plenum, plummeting, plunging, portray, posteriority, posterity, postposition, powder train, procession, progeny, progress, progression, prolongation, put-down, queue, race, radial motion, random motion, range, rank, recite, recount, recurrence, reduction, reflowing, refluence, reflux, regression, rehearse, render, report, reticulation, retrocession, retrogradation, retrogression, reversal, reverse, reverse of fortune, rise, rising, rising generation, rocket launching, rotation, round, routine, row, run, rush, scale, seed, self-abasement, self-abnegation, self-diminishment, sept, sequence, series, set, setback, setdown, severe check, shame, shamefacedness, shamefastness, shoot, shot, side, sideward motion, single file, sinking, slippage, slope, slump, soaring, sons, spear side, spectrum, spindle side, state, stem, sternway, stirps, stock, strain, stream, string, subjunction, submergence, subsiding, succession, successiveness, suffixation, swath, sword side, thread, throwback, thrusting under, tier, train, traject, trajectory, trajet, transmit, treasures, trend, upward motion, velocity peak, wane, windrow, younglings, youngsters

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ROGET THESAURUS

descent

Decrease

N nonincrease, decrease, decrease, diminution, lessening, subtraction, reduction, abatement, declension, shrinking (contraction, ), coarctation, abridgment, extenuation, subsidence, wane, ebb, decline, ebbing, descent, decrement, reflux, depreciation, deterioration, anticlimax, mitigation, unincreased, decreased, decreasing, on the wane, a gilded halo hovering round decay, fine by degrees and beautifully less.

Continuity

N continuity, consecution, consecutiveness, succession, round, suite, progression, series, train chain, catenation, concatenation, scale, gradation, course, ceaselessness, constant flow, unbroken extent, procession, column, retinue, cortege, cavalcade, rank and file, line of battle, array, pedigree, genealogy, lineage, race, ancestry, descent, family, house, line, line of ancestors, strain, rank, file, line, row, range, tier, string, thread, team, suit, colonnade, continuous, continued, consecutive, progressive, gradual, serial, successive, immediate, unbroken, entire, linear, in a line, in a row, uninterrupted, unintermitting, unremitting, unrelenting (perseverence), perennial, evergreen, constant, continuously, seriatim, in a line, in succession, in turn, running, gradually, step by step, gradatim, at a stretch, in file, in column, in single file, in Indian file.

Acquisition

N acquisition, gaining, obtainment, procuration, procurement, purchase, descent, inheritance, gift, recovery, retrieval, revendication, replevin, restitution, redemption, salvage, trover, find, trouvaille, foundling, gain, thrift, money-making, money grubbing, lucre, filthy lucre, pelf, loaves and fishes, the main chance, emolument, profit, earnings, winnings, innings, pickings, net profit, avails, income, proceeds, produce, product, outcome, output, return, fruit, crop, harvest, second crop, aftermath, benefit, sweepstakes, trick, prize, pool, pot, wealth, subreption, obreption, stealing, acquiring, acquired, profitable, advantageous, gainful, remunerative, paying, lucrative, lucri causa.

Cause

N cause, origin, source, principle, element, occasioner, prime mover, primum mobile, vera causa, author, mainspring, agent, leaven, groundwork, foundation, spring, fountain, well, font, fountainhead, spring head, wellhead, fons et origo, genesis, descent, remote cause, influence, pivot, hinge, turning point, lever, crux, fulcrum, key, proximate cause, causa causans, straw that breaks the camel's back, ground, reason, reason why, why and wherefore, rationale, occasion, derivation, final cause, les dessous des cartes, undercurrents, rudiment, egg, germ, embryo, bud, root, radix radical, etymon, nucleus, seed, stem, stock, stirps, trunk, tap-root, gemmule, radicle, semen, sperm, nest, cradle, nursery, womb, nidus, birthplace, hotbed, causality, causation, origination, production, caused, causal, original, primary, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, protogenal, radical, embryonic, embryotic, in embryo, in ovo, seminal, germinal, at the bottom of, connate, having a common origin, because, behind the scenes, causa latet vis est notissima, felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.

Paternity

N paternity, parentage, consanguinity, parent, father, sire, dad, papa, paterfamilias, abba, genitor, progenitor, procreator, ancestor, grandsire, grandfather, great- grandfather, fathership, fatherhood, mabap, house, stem, trunk, tree, stock, stirps, pedigree, lineage, line, family, tribe, sept, race, clan, genealogy, descent, extraction, birth, ancestry, forefathers, forbears, patriarchs, motherhood, maternity, mother, dam, mamma, materfamilias, grandmother, paternal, parental, maternal, family, ancestral, linear, patriarchal, avi numerantur avorum, happy he with such a mother, hombre bueno no le busquen abolengo, philosophia stemma non inspicit.

Descent

N descent, descension, declension, declination, fall, falling, slump, drop, plunge, plummet, cadence, subsidence, collapse, lapse, downfall, tumble, slip, tilt, trip, lurch, cropper, culbute, titubation, stumble, fate of Icarus, avalanche, debacle, landslip, landslide, declivity, dip, hill, rappel, descending, descendent, decurrent, decursive, labent, deciduous, nodding to its fall, downhill, downwards, the bottom fell out.

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