Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Moving or directed downward; characterized by downward direction.
- Specifically
- Characterized by descent or decrease as regards the value or importance of its constituent members; indicating a continued lowering as regards position, value, or importance: as, a descending scale or series.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to descent; moving downwards.
- adjective (Astron.) those through which the planets descent toward the south.
- adjective (Astron.) that point in a planet's orbit where it intersects the ecliptic in passing southward.
- adjective (Math.) a series in which each term is numerically smaller than the preceding one; also, a series arranged according to descending powers of a quantity.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb Present participle of
descend .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective coming down or downward
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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The title descending to heir males, I must have the title by outliving my brother, if I do, but hang it all, she [sic] has a daughter, and she will have the estates. "
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The Cheshire cat's wide, puckish smile descending from the heavens as a crescent moon; the caterpillar puffing opiate smoke into the face of Alice and snobbishly asking, Who ...
Archive 2009-10-01 2009
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The entrance was by way of a flight of steps descending from the side-walk to what was properly the cellar of the building.
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Rounding out the top five smart cities are in descending rank, San Francisco, San Jose, Raleigh, N.C., and Boston.
D.C. is America's smartest city. (We won't lord it over you.) Melissa Bell 2010
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Saxon, brooding over her problem of retaining Billy's love, of never staling the freshness of their feeling for each other and of never descending from the heights which at present they were treading, felt herself impelled toward Mrs. Higgins.
CHAPTER III 2010
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The Cheshire cat's wide, puckish smile descending from the heavens as a crescent moon; the caterpillar puffing opiate smoke into the face of Alice and snobbishly asking, Who ...
Alice in Wonderland 2009
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The other breeds on this year's top 10 include, in descending order: Yorkshire terrier, German shepherd, golden retriever, beagle, boxer, dachshund, poodle and shih tzu.
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Which four tech giants get the most ink, screen, and airtime, in descending order?
News quiz: The week in tech Dan Tynan 2010
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The different sticks are (in descending point value) cerf, chevreuil, renard, blaireau, and lièvre -- and of course the same animals in German.
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Which four tech giants get the most ink, screen, and airtime, in descending order? a. Apple, Google, Twitter, Facebook
News quiz: The week in tech Dan Tynan 2010
brobbins commented on the word descending
lowered rank
July 22, 2009