noun
or ca·tab·a·sis kəˈtabəsə̇s
( plural kataba·ses or cataba·ses -bəˌsēz)
Etymology: Greek katabasis descent, from katabainein to go down, from kata- cata- + bainein to go — more at come
1. : a going or marching down or back : retreat ; especially : a military retreat
the Russian anabasis and katabasis of Napoleon — Thomas DeQuincey
the tragic and precipitate katabasis of the UN troops — H.L.Ickes
2. : a troparion sung after the two sides of the choir descend to the middle of the church at the end of each ode of the canon at matins in the Eastern Orthodox Church