descent Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a movement downward
  2. noun properties attributable to your ancestry
    origin; extraction.
    • he comes from good origins
  3. noun the act of changing your location in a downward direction
  4. noun the kinship relation between an individual and the individual's progenitors
    lineage; filiation; line of descent.
  5. noun a downward slope or bend
    decline; declivity; downslope; declination; fall; declension.
  6. noun the descendants of one individual
    lineage; pedigree; parentage; bloodline; ancestry; stemma; blood; line; stock; line of descent; origin; blood line.
    • his entire lineage has been warriors

WordNet

De*scent" noun
Etymology
F. descente, fr. descendre; like vente, from vendre. See Descend.
Definitions
  1. The act of descending, or passing downward; change of place from higher to lower.
  2. Incursion; sudden attack; especially, hostile invasion from sea; -- often followed by upon or on; as, to make a descent upon the enemy.
    The United Provinces . . . ordered public prayer to God, when they feared that the French and English fleets would make a descent upon their coasts. Jortin.
  3. Progress downward, as in station, virtue, as in station, virtue, and the like, from a higher to a lower state, from a higher to a lower state, from the more to the less important, from the better to the worse, etc.
  4. Derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure by generation; lineage; birth; extraction. Dryden.
  5. (Law) Transmission of an estate by inheritance, usually, but not necessarily, in the descending line; title to inherit an estate by reason of consanguinity. Abbott.
  6. Inclination downward; a descending way; inclined or sloping surface; declivity; slope; as, a steep descent.
  7. That which is descended; descendants; issue.
    If care of our descent perplex us most, Which must be born to certain woe. Milton.
  8. A step or remove downward in any scale of gradation; a degree in the scale of genealogy; a generation.
    No man living is a thousand descents removed from Adam himself. Hooker.
  9. Lowest place; extreme downward place. R.
    And from the extremest upward of thy head, To the descent and dust below thy foot. Shak.
  10. (Mus.) A passing from a higher to a lower tone. Syn. -- Declivity; slope; degradation; extraction; lineage; assault; invasion; attack.

Webster 1913