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descend

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verb American English pronunciation: descend /dɪˈsend/ 
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present tense
I/you/we/theydescend
he/she/itdescends
present participledescending
past tensedescended
past participledescended
  1. 1
    [intransitive/transitive] formal to go down a mountain or slope, or to go down some stairs

    I descended into the valley.

    He slowly descended the stairs.

    1. a.
      [intransitive] to come nearer to the ground

      The airplane was preparing to descend.

    2. b.
      [intransitive] to become lower

      From here the path descends steeply.

  2. 3
    [intransitive] literary if night or darkness descends, it starts to get dark

    At 6:30 p.m. the tropical darkness descends.

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