descending
(a.)下降的,下行的
descending
遞減的
descending
遞降 遞減
De·scend v. i. [imp. & p. p. Descended; p. pr. & vb. n. Descending.]
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.
The rain descended, and the floods came. --Matt. vii. 25.
We will here descend to matters of later date. --Fuller.
2. To enter mentally; to retire. [Poetic]
[He] with holiest meditations fed,
Into himself descended. --Milton.
3. To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon.
And on the suitors let thy wrath descend. --Pope.
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.
5. To pass from the more general or important to the particular or less important matters to be considered.
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.
7. Anat. To move toward the south, or to the southward.
8. Mus. To fall in pitch; to pass from a higher to a lower tone.
De·scend·ing, a. Of or pertaining to descent; moving downwards.
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.
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descending
adj : coming down or downward [syn: descending(a)] [ant: ascending(a)]