[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/descend/) [dictionaries](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [English](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/) / [D](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/d/) / descend # descend verb (descend, descends, descended, descending) «descend» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition and Early Modern English — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova. ## Everyday 1. To descend is to go or come down, or to move downwards. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/descend/#m1) 2. To be descended from someone means to come from them in your family history (to be their great-great-grandchild, and so on). [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/descend/#m2) 3. To descend on a place means to arrive there suddenly in large numbers. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/descend/#m3) ### In the lessons In maths, descending order means from the biggest to the smallest (9, 7, 4, 2). In science and geography, planes descend to land and climbers descend a mountain. In history and family trees, people are descended from their ancestors. Phrases: descend the stairs, descending order, be descended from, descend on. ### Examples - The plane began to descend towards the airport. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/descend/#x1) - We carefully descended the steep hill. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/descend/#x2) - Put these numbers in descending order: 3, 8, 5. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/descend/#x3) - She is descended from a family of sailors. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/descend/#x4) - Night descended on the town. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/descend/#x5) - Hundreds of fans descended on the stadium. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/descend/#x6) - The divers descended to the bottom of the lake. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/descend/#x7) - She then descended from the chariot and made her reverence. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/descend/#x8) ### Note Regular verb: descended, descending. Noun: descent (going down) and descendant (a person in your family who comes after you). Spelling: «sc» in the middle: de-SCEND. Opposite: ascend. Maths trap: ascending order is smallest to biggest; descending is biggest to smallest. ## In Jewish tradition In these verses it is used of God coming down in a cloud, and of angels going down Jacob's ladder. **Interpretation.** Tradition does not take God's "descending" literally, since God has no body. It reads it as God drawing near to people, as at Sinai and the Tent of Meeting. ### Examples - And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. (Torah EXO.34.5, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/descend/#x1) - And it came to pass, when Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended, and stood at the door of the Tent; and the LORD spoke with Moses. (Torah EXO.33.9, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/descend/#x2) - And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. (Torah GEN.28.12, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/descend/#x3) - Who hath ascended up into heaven, and descended? (Writings PRO.30.4, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/descend/#x4) - For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away; his wealth shall not descend after him. (Writings PSA.49.18, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/descend/#x5) - And it shall hail, in the downfall of the forest; but the city shall descend into the valley. (Prophets ISA.32.19, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/descend/#x6) ### Note Regular verb: descended, descending. Noun: descent (going down) and descendant (a person in your family who comes after you). Spelling: «sc» in the middle: de-SCEND. Opposite: ascend. Maths trap: ascending order is smallest to biggest; descending is biggest to smallest. ## Early Modern English ### Meaning To go or come down, or to fall. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/D/descend/#m1) ### Then and now Today it means going down. In the Sefer Yetzirah sentence it means coming forth from a source, which is an old sense. ### Examples - And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. (Torah EXO.34.5, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/D/descend/#x1) - "To-morrow the sun will shine, or the rain descend. (Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/D/descend/#x2) - This way of thinking about language imbues the Hebrew root itself with a certain metaphysical reality, an entity from which more concrete instantions of individual words may ontologically descend and ultimately crystallize into concrete speech or material reality. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/D/descend/#x3) ### Note Today: come down, fall; come from. ## On Mova - [Trees and pragmatics of «descend» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/descend/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames. - [«descend» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/descend.html) on Mova free. - [Trees and pragmatics of «descend» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/descend/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames. - [«descend» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/descend.html) on Mova free. - [Trees and pragmatics of «descend» in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/D/descend/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames. - [«descend» in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/descend.html) on Mova free.