descend

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To move down from a higher position to a lower one.

   The plane began to descend toward the runway.

2. 2
   verb

   To be related to someone who lived long ago.

   She claims to descend from a famous royal family.

3. 3
   verb

   To lower yourself to do something you think is beneath you.

   I never thought he would descend to lying to win.

PIE word *de The verb is derived from Middle English descenden (“to move downwards, fall, descend; to slope downwards; to go from a better to a worse condition, decline, degenerate; to be a descendant, derive from (a source); etc.”), from Anglo-Norman descendere, descendre, and Old French descendere, descendre (“to move downwards, fall, descend; to slope downwards; to be a descendant, derive from (a source); etc.”) (modern French descendre), and from their etymon Latin dēscendere, the present active infinitive of dēscendō (“to come or go down, fall, descend; to slope downwards; to be a descen…

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