Meanings
plural descensions
- archaiccountableuncountableDescent; the act of descending.First known use 15th c.
Death is followed by either ascension into a higher plane or descension into a lower plane.
1 more example
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] - countableobsoleteuncountableastronomyThe descent below the horizon of a celestial body.First known use 16th–19th c.
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
Origin
- Latindēscēnsiō, dēscēnsiōnem
- Old Frenchdescension
- Middle Englishdescencioun
- Englishdescension
From Middle English descencioun, from Old French descension, from Latin dēscēnsiō, dēscēnsiōnem.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with descension
Cite this entry
descension. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/descension
“descension.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/descension. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “descension,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/descension.
Source: descension on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.