descend

Universal Words verb 1 (formal) to come or go down from a higher to a lower level: [V] The plane began to descend. * The results, ranked in descending order (= from the highest to the lowest) are as follows: * [VN] She descended the stairs slowly. OPPASCEND 2 [V] (formal) (of a hill, etc.) to slope downwards: At this point the path descends steeply. OPPASCEND 3 [V] ~ (on / upon sb/sth) (literary) (of night, darkness, a mood, etc.) to arrive and begin to affect sb/sth SYNFALL: Night descends quickly in the tropics. * Calm descended on the crowd. PHRASALVERBS be descended from sb to be related to sb who lived a long time ago: He claims to be descended from a Spanish prince. descend into sth [nopassive] (formal) to gradually get into a bad state: The country was descending into chaos. descend on / upon sb/sth to visit sb/sth in large numbers, sometimes unexpectedly: Hundreds of football fans descended on the city. descend to sth [nopassive] to do sth that makes people stop respecting you: They descended to the level of personal insults.