Descending

How to spell descending

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce descending

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does descending mean?

1. verbMoving or sloping from a higher to a lower position.
2. adjectiveArranged from the highest or largest value to the lowest or smallest.

Descending in a sentence

• verb

  The plane was descending steadily toward the runway.

• adjective

  The spreadsheet listed the sales figures in descending order.

• verb

  The hikers were descending the steep trail before nightfall.

• adjective

  She ranked the candidates in descending order of experience.

Where does descending come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word goes back to the Latin verb descendere, which combined the prefix de-, meaning 'down', with the verb scandere, meaning 'to climb' or 'to step', so the whole thing literally meant 'to climb down'. English took it in through Old French descendre during the 1300s, and the present participle 'descending' followed naturally as the form describing the act of going down. The same Latin scandere root quietly powers a surprising family of relatives, including 'ascend', 'transcend', and even 'scan', which once meant to climb through the metrical feet of a line of verse. The spelling trap sits at the front: writers reach for 'dis-' by habit, but the correct prefix is 'de-', and the silent-feeling 'sc' in the middle preserves that ancient scandere stem. Holding the picture of climbing 'down' helps fix both the de- opening and the -scend- core.

How the word is built

• de- (down)
• scend (from Latin scandere: to climb)
• -ing (present participle)