descent

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Motion downward

Nouns

1. descent, descension (rare), declension, declination, inclination, fall; falling, drop, subsidence, lapse; comedown.

2. downfall, tumble, slip, cropper, stumble, nosedive, crash dive; parachute jump; vertical insertion; declivity, incline, dip, hill (see obliquity); avalanche, snowslide, mudslide, debacle, landslip, landslide, chute; fall, pratfall, plunge. Informal, spill, flop.

3. speleology; speleologist.

Verbs

1. (fall) descend; go, drop, or come down, fall, dive, gravitate, drop, slip, slide, settle, subside, lapse, decline, set, sink, plummet; swoop, fall prostrate, precipitate oneself, come a cropper; let fall; tumble, stumble, flop, topple, take a spill or header; topple or tumble down or over, plump down; parachute, skydive. Informal, come down a peg.

2. (climb down) dismount, climb down, alight, light, get off or down; rappel.

Adjectives — descending, descendent; decurrent, decursive; deciduous; downhill; nodding to its fall.

Adverbs — down, downhill, downward, downstream, downstairs.

Phrases — what goes up must come down; go down like the Titanic.

Antonyms, see ascent, leap.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [A downward incline]

Syn. declivity, slope, drop; see grade 1 , inclination 5 .

2. [The act of descending]

Syn. drop, fall, falling, coming down, sinking, degradation, abasement, droop, cadence, debasement, slump, downfall, drop, lapse, slide, subsiding, declination, swoop, plunge, dip, reduction, precipitation, landslide, tumble, decline; see also fall 1 .

Ant. rise*, mounting, growth.

3. [Lineal relationship]

Syn. extraction, origin, lineage; see family 1 , relationship .

4. [An invasion]

Syn. advance, incursion, assault; see attack 1 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

1. moving down fall, drop, lowering, sinking, tumble, plunge, plummet, dive, decline.

2. slope grade, incline, declivity, gradient, slant.

3. lineage ancestry, forefathers, pedigree, family tree, roots, parentage, genealogy.

ANT.: 1. ascent, rise

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. The act of dropping from a height: drop, fall. See RISE. 2. A downward slope or distance: decline, declivity, drop, fall, pitch. See RISE. 3. One's ancestors or their character or one's ancestral derivation: ancestry, birth, blood, bloodline, extraction, family, genealogy, line, lineage, origin, parentage, pedigree, seed, stock. See KIN, PRECEDE. 4. A sudden drop to a lower condition or status: comedown, down, downfall, downgrade. See RISE. 5. A usually swift downward trend, as in prices: decline, dip, dive, downslide, downswing, downtrend, downturn, drop, drop-off, fall, nosedive, plunge, skid, slide, slump, tumble. See INCREASE.