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
  • The crew members likely dumped the Tyger’s heavy cannons from the boat to slow her descent.
    Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Mar. 2024
  • The 20-minute descent Friday will be the riskiest part of the entire mission.
    Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 19 Jan. 2024
  • 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
  • Half of the victims killed in Saturday’s shooting were of Asian descent.
    Aria Jones, Dallas News, 13 May 2023
  • Weighed down by sandbags and pipes, the Titan began its two-and-a-half-hour descent to the storied shipwreck.
    Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 6 Mar. 2024
  • During a 13-minute descent, the craft will use its heat shield to dissipate speed through friction.
    Popular Science, 20 Sep. 2023
  • The capsule then deployed sets of parachutes to further slow its descent.
    Jackie Wattles, CNN, 4 Sep. 2023
  • Damaged and beyond use was the tachometer, which was to have registered the vessel’s speed of descent.
    William J. Broad, New York Times, 18 Nov. 2023
  • What to Consider: The collars can hit against your ankles on steep descents.
    Maggie Slepian, Travel + Leisure, 9 Feb. 2024
  • She and Fualaau, who is of Samoan descent, later got married and raised two daughters, both of whom were born before Fualaau turned 16.
    Claire Wang, NBC News, 19 Dec. 2023
  • Two astronauts then would move into the HLS for descent to the moon's south polar region.
    William Harwood, CBS News, 30 Nov. 2023
  • The researchers found that the sharks were making steep, fast descents to spend a few minutes feasting in deep waters, then speeding most of the way back to the surface.
    Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 11 May 2023
  • Jacobs’ use of a selfie stick to record his descent after abandoning the plane also drew scorn from commenters and the FAA.
    Terry Castleman, Los Angeles Times, 12 May 2023
  • On a public square in Nanterre, a young man of Senegalese descent said France would learn little from the latest unrest.
    Cara Anna, ajc, 3 July 2023
  • The issue: Only two percent of the blood donor population is of African descent.
    Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Sep. 2023
  • The aircraft made a slight right turn, turning south of the roadway, and the data then shows a gradual descent and increasing ground speed.
    Adam Beam, Chinedu Asadu and Stefanie Dazio, Quartz, 11 Feb. 2024
  • Evan Smith, an attorney traveling on the plane, told reporters the descent and landing were loud but smooth.
    Terry Spencer, Fortune, 9 Jan. 2024
  • The Super Heavy booster then started its descent toward the Gulf of Mexico.
    Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Mar. 2024
  • In fact, the bed’s depth sensors are programmed to stop its descent if anything is detected below.
    Patricia Marx, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2023
  • Cabrera said many of the travelers originally came from Venezuela, Guatemala and Honduras, and two were of African descent.
    Laura J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times, 15 June 2023
  • These boots feel secure on steep ascents and descents, and are built on a slightly wider last than other La Sportiva models.
    Maggie Slepian, Travel + Leisure, 1 Sep. 2023
  • Weighed down by sandbags and pipes, the Titan slid off an underwater platform and began its two-and-a-half-hour descent to the storied wreck.
    Kc Baker, Peoplemag, 27 June 2023
  • Quezada is a 44-year-old woman of Black, Mexican, and Jewish descent and has spent almost 16 years with the airline.
    Melissa Noel, Essence, 2 Nov. 2023
  • This would help minimize the amount of time that the station would spend in lower, denser levels of the atmosphere during the remainder of its descent.
    Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 21 Nov. 2023
  • In Swiss alpine communities, the final descent at the end of summer is a celebration of that centuries’ old way of life.
    George Steinmetz Catherine Porter, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2024
  • The gradual descent of Ned Stark is one of the show's more purposefully deflating arcs.
    Darren Franich, EW.com, 29 Feb. 2024
  • For most of us, the thought of sliding across a patch of ice—at speed—while behind the wheel is fodder for nightmares, ranking right up there with brake failure on a serpentine descent.
    Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 7 Feb. 2024

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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