How to Use descent in a Sentence

descent

noun
  • The only path that goes down to the river is a rather steep descent, so be careful.
  • The book describes his descent into a deep depression after the death of his wife.
  • The low is made all the more real by the descent from a manic high.
    — Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 18 Sep. 2023
  • No one was hurt, and the cause of the rapid descent remains unclear.
    — Jonathan Edwards, Anchorage Daily News, 16 Feb. 2023
  • While the ride was in descent, the bracket hit the coaster’s track and came off the coaster train.
    — Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press, 2 May 2024
  • Lisa and Alba cheered with every thrust and descent of the boat.
    — Ayşegül Savaş, New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2025
  • The crew members likely dumped the Tyger’s heavy cannons from the boat to slow her descent.
    — Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Mar. 2024
  • Sampson slipped out the bottom of the seat on the descent while the ride braked, witnesses said at the time.
    — Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY, 20 Mar. 2025
  • Now, the trail has a more gradual descent to the water.
    — Maura Fox, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 May 2024
  • The 20-minute descent Friday will be the riskiest part of the entire mission.
    — Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 19 Jan. 2024
  • Harris would be the first Black woman and person of Asian descent to take the White House.
    — Laura Washington, Chicago Tribune, 29 July 2024
  • Nor have the presidents on screen been of South Asian descent.
    — Peter Kastor, The Conversation, 13 Aug. 2024
  • The crew will transfer to the waiting Starship for the descent to the lunar surface.
    — William Harwood, CBS News, 6 Mar. 2025
  • Of the eight recent hires, four are Latino, one is Black, one is of Asian descent and two are white.
    — Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2022
  • And the descent back to the city would present a formidable challenge to our thighs, our knees, and our egos.
    — David Amsden, Travel + Leisure, 19 Aug. 2023
  • Five of the victims were of Asian descent and three were Hispanic, and all but two were in their 60s or 70s.
    — Nick Stoico, BostonGlobe.com, 28 Jan. 2023
  • Buchanan was born in New Zealand and is of Tongan descent.
    — Joe Otterson, Variety, 16 Nov. 2022
  • That was five less than Friday, and a rapid descent in the cold direction.
    — Martin Weil, Washington Post, 11 Dec. 2022
  • The mayor and three of the seven city council members are of Lebanese descent.
    — Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, 10 Oct. 2024
  • Besides a steep descent from the parking lot into the canyon, the route is mostly flat.
    — Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 1 Aug. 2024
  • In fact, Cactus to Clouds came to exist only because much of the descent takes place on the tram.
    — Dina Mishev Max Whittaker, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2025
  • Its descent will also likely be one of the fastest reentries to date.
    — Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 30 Aug. 2022
  • A couple of residents walked up to the police tape, both of them of Asian descent.
    — Emily Witt, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2023
  • Four Muslim men of South Asian descent have been shot and killed in the city since November.
    — Katie Shepherd, Washington Post, 9 Aug. 2022
  • Tuerk, a Democrat who is of Cuban descent, is the city’s first Latino mayor.
    — Rebecca Morin, USA TODAY, 28 Oct. 2024
  • The hike to the W tree from atop the bluff consists of a harrowing descent of a few hundred feet down a 75-degree slope.
    — Popular Mechanics, 14 Apr. 2023
  • The descents of bigger satellites, such as the ISS, have to be controlled because pieces of them will survive the trip.
    — Sarah Scoles, Scientific American, 28 Oct. 2024
  • The installation required a pitch-black screening room and the film began with a six-minute scene of the descent down the shaft.
    — Siddhartha Mitter, New York Times, 10 May 2024
  • Any fall damage in-game can be mitigated by landing in water or any depth, so most players keep a bucket of the wet stuff handy in case of an abrupt descent.
    — Issy Van Der Velde, Rolling Stone, 9 Apr. 2025
  • Her husband’s subsequent descent into alcoholism and domestic abuse drained her bank account and cast her and her children into the urban wilderness.
    — Jeff Hobbs, Time, 10 Apr. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'descent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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