[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

descend \descend"\, v. i. imp.  p. p. descended; p. pr. 
   vb. n. descending. f. descendre, l. descendere,
   descensum; de- + scandere to climb. see scan.
   1. to pass from a higher to a lower place; to move downwards;
      to come or go down in any way, as by falling, flowing,
      walking, etc.; to plunge; to fall; to incline downward; --
      the opposite of ascend.
      1913 webster

            the rain descended, and the floods came. --matt.
                                                  vii. 25.
      1913 webster

            we will here descend to matters of later date.
                                                  --fuller.
      1913 webster

   2. to enter mentally; to retire. poetic
      1913 webster

            he with holiest meditations fed,
            into himself descended.               --milton.
      1913 webster

   3. to make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage
      ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or
      upon.
      1913 webster

            and on the suitors let thy wrath descend. --pope.
      1913 webster

   4. to come down to a lower, less fortunate, humbler, less
      virtuous, or worse, state or station; to lower or abase
      one's self; as, he descended from his high estate.
      1913 webster

   5. to pass from the more general or important to the
      particular or less important matters to be considered.
      1913 webster

   6. to come down, as from a source, original, or stock; to be
      derived; to proceed by generation or by transmission; to
      fall or pass by inheritance; as, the beggar may descend
      from a prince; a crown descends to the heir.
      1913 webster

   7. anat. to move toward the south, or to the southward.
      1913 webster

   8. mus. to fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower
      tone.
      1913 webster
see also:
descended descending scan 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

descending \descend"ing\, a.
   of or pertaining to descent; moving downwards.
   1913 webster

   descending constellations or descending signs astron.,
      those through which the planets descent toward the south.
      

   descending node astron., that point in a planet's orbit
      where it intersects the ecliptic in passing southward.

   descending series math., a series in which each term is
      numerically smaller than the preceding one; also, a series
      arranged according to descending powers of a quantity.
      1913 webster
see also:
descending constellations descending signs descending node descending series 

[3] : WordNet (r) 2.0

descending
     adj : coming down or downward syn: descendinga ant: ascendinga
see also:
descendinga ascendinga 

[4] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

64 moby thesaurus words for "descending":
   ascending, axial, back, back-flowing, backward, collapsing,
   deciduous, declined, declining, declivate, declivitous, declivous,
   decurrent, descendant, dipping, down, down-reaching, down-trending,
   downcoming, downfalling, downgoing, downgrade, downhill,
   downsinking, downward, drifting, drooping, dropping, falling,
   flowing, fluent, flying, going, gyrational, gyratory, mounting,
   on the descendant, on the downgrade, passing, plummeting, plunging,
   progressive, reflowing, refluent, regressive, retrogressive,
   rising, rotary, rotational, rotatory, running, rushing, sagging,
   setting, sideward, sinking, soaring, streaming, submerging,
   subsiding, tottering, tumbledown, up-trending, upward

Descending >> D Words
Descending, definition of term: Descending
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