Descent: The Way Down, and Where You Come From
Descent is the act of going down, a downward slope, or a person's ancestry. It is easily confused with dissent, which means disagreement.
Descent is the noun of *descend*. Its near-homophone *dissent* means disagreement, and the two are confused often enough that a descent into argument and a dissent from a decision can appear in the same sentence looking almost identical.
- The act of going down. *The descent took two hours.*
- A downward slope. *A gentle descent to the river.*
- Ancestry. *Of Greek descent.*
- A decline into a worse state. *A descent into disorder.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | descent | A rapid descent. |
| Verb | descend | Descend carefully. |
| Person | descendant | A distant descendant. |
| Confusable | dissent | A note of dissent. |
| Confusable | decent | A decent meal. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The pilot began the descent into Istanbul.Aviation usage.
- She is of Irish descent.Of plus descent — the standard ancestry phrase.
- The country's descent into recession was slow.Descent into — a decline.
Descent, dissent and decent
- Descent — going down, or ancestry
- Dissent — disagreement, especially with an official position
- Decent — acceptable or kind
- All three sound similar, and only spelling separates the first two
- A memory hook: disSENT is what you SEND back in disagreement
From Old French *descente*, from *descendre*. The ancestry sense entered English in the fourteenth century, and legal writing still uses it for the passing of property to heirs.
Descent or dissent?
Descent is downward movement or ancestry. Dissent is disagreement. They are unrelated words.
Of Irish descent or Irish descent?
Of Irish descent. The preposition is standard and the phrase sounds incomplete without it.