4 VERB When night, dusk, or darkness descends , it starts to get dark. [LITERARY ] □ [V ] Darkness has now descended and the moon and stars shine hazily in the clear sky.
5 VERB If you say that someone descends to behaviour which you consider unacceptable, you are expressing your disapproval of the fact that they do it. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ [V + to ] We're not going to descend to such methods.
6 VERB 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. [EMPHASIS ] □ [V + into ] He was ultimately overthrown and the country descended into chaos.
de|scend|ant /d I se ndənt/ (descendants )
1 N‑COUNT [usu pl, usu with poss] Someone's descendants are the people in later generations who are related to them. □ [+ of ] They are descendants of the original English and Scottish settlers.
2 N‑COUNT Something modern which developed from an older thing can be called a descendant of it. □ [+ of ] His design was a descendant of a 1956 device.
de|scend|ed /d I se nd I d/
1 ADJ A person who is descended from someone who lived a long time ago is directly related to them. □ [+ from ] She told us she was descended from some Scottish Lord.
2 ADJ An animal that is descended from another sort of animal has developed from the original sort.
de|scend|ing /d I se nd I ŋ/ ADJ [ADJ n] When a group of things is listed or arranged in descending order , each thing is smaller or less important than the thing before it. □ All the other ingredients, including water, have to be listed in descending order by weight.
de|scent /d I se nt/ (descents )
1 N‑VAR A descent is a movement from a higher to a lower level or position. □ [+ into ] …the crash of an Airbus A300 on its descent into Kathmandu airport.
2 N‑COUNT A descent is a surface that slopes downwards, for example the side of a steep hill. □ On the descents, cyclists spin past cars, freewheeling downhill at tremendous speed.
3 N‑SING When you want to emphasize that a situation becomes very bad, you can talk about someone's or something's descent into that situation. [EMPHASIS ] □ [+ from/to ] …his swift descent from respected academic to struggling small businessman.
4 N‑UNCOUNT [usu of adj N ] You use descent to talk about a person's family background, for example their nationality or social status. [FORMAL ] □ All the contributors were of African descent.
de|scribe ◆◆◆ /d I skra I b/ (describes , describing , described )
1 VERB If you describe a person, object, event, or situation, you say what they are like or what happened. □ [V wh] We asked her to describe what kind of things she did in her spare time. □ [V n] She read a poem by Carver which describes their life together. □ [V v-ing] Just before his death he described seeing their son in a beautiful garden.
2 VERB If a person describes someone or something as a particular thing, he or she believes that they are that thing and says so. □ [V n + as ] He described it as an extraordinarily tangled and complicated tale. □ Even his closest allies describe him as forceful, aggressive and determined. □ [V n + as ] He described the meeting as marking a new stage in the peace process. SYNONYMS describe VERB 1
relate: She related her tale of living rough.
report: I reported the theft to the police.
explain: I explained that each person has different ideas of what freedom is.
define: He was asked to define his concept of cool.
detaiclass="underline" The report detailed the human rights abuses committed during the war.
de|scrip|tion ◆◇◇ /d I skr I pʃ ə n/ (descriptions )
1 N‑VAR A description of someone or something is an account which explains what they are or what they look like. □ [+ of ] Police have issued a description of the man who was aged between fifty and sixty. □ He has a real gift for vivid description.
2 N‑SING If something is of a particular description , it belongs to the general class of items that are mentioned. □ Events of this description occurred daily.
3 N‑UNCOUNT You can say that something is beyond description , or that it defies description , to emphasize that it is very unusual, impressive, terrible, or extreme. [EMPHASIS ] □ His face is weary beyond description. SYNONYMS description NOUN 1
account: He gave a detailed account of what happened on the fateful night.
report: She came back to give us a progress report on how the project is going.
explanation: There was a hint of schoolboy shyness in his explanation.
profile: A newspaper published profiles of the candidates' wives.
sketch: I had a basic sketch of a plan.
de|scrip|tive /d I skr I pt I v/ ADJ Descriptive language or writing indicates what someone or something is like. □ …his descriptive way of writing.
des|ecrate /de s I kre I t/ (desecrates , desecrating , desecrated ) VERB If someone desecrates something which is considered to be holy or very special, they deliberately damage or insult it. □ [V n] She shouldn't have desecrated the picture of a religious leader. ● des|ecra|tion /de s I kre I ʃ ə n/ N‑UNCOUNT □ [+ of ] The whole area has been shocked by the desecration of the cemetery.