DESCEND


Meaning of DESCEND in English

transcription, транскрипция: [ dɪsend ]

( descends, descending, descended)

1.

If you descend or if you descend a staircase, you move downwards from a higher to a lower level. ( FORMAL )

Things are cooler and more damp as we descend to the cellar...

She descended one flight of stairs.

= go down

≠ rise, ascend

VERB : V prep , V n

2.

When a mood or atmosphere descends on a place or on the people there, it affects them by spreading among them. ( LITERARY )

An uneasy calm descended on the area...

= fall

VERB : V on/upon/over n , also V

3.

If a large group of people arrive to see you, especially if their visit is unexpected or causes you a lot of work, you can say that they have descended on you.

3,000 city officials descended on Capitol Hill to lobby for more money...

VERB : V on/upon n

4.

When night, dusk, or darkness descends , it starts to get dark. ( LITERARY )

Darkness has now descended and the moon and stars shine hazily in the clear sky.

= fall

VERB : V

5.

If you say that someone descends to behaviour which you consider unacceptable, you are expressing your disapproval of the fact that they do it.

We’re not going to descend to such methods...

= stoop, sink

VERB : V to n / -ing [ disapproval ]

6.

When you want to emphasize that the situation that someone is entering is very bad, you can say that they are descending into that situation.

He was ultimately overthrown and the country descended into chaos.

= fall, slide

VERB : V into n [ emphasis ]

Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary.      Английский словарь Коллинз COBUILD для изучающих язык на продвинутом уровне.