Dictionary

descension en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /dɪˈsɛnʃən/

Etymology

From Middle English descencioun, from Old French descension, from Latin dēscēnsiō, dēscēnsiōnem.

Meanings

1. (archaic, countable, uncountable) Descent; the act of descending.
   • From a God to a Bull? a heavy descension. It was Jove's case. c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v]:
   • Death is followed by either ascension into a higher plane or descension into a lower plane.
2. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) The descent below the horizon of a celestial body.
   • For in regard of time (as we elsewhere declare) the stars do vary their longitudes, and consequently the times of their ascension and descension. 1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, VI.3:

Forms

Deriveds

descensional