How to Use descend in a Sentence

descend

verb
  • The path descends to the river.
  • The workers descended into the hole.
  • The stairs descended into the tunnel.
  • A herd of goats descended into the valley.
  • Wait for the elevator to descend.
  • The airplane will descend to a lower altitude soon.
  • The children descended the staircase silently.
  • Descending the mountain was even more dangerous than climbing it.
  • Over and over, the road climbed and descended.
    — Karen Palmer september 19, Literary Hub, 19 Sep. 2025
  • As the cold days descend upon us, the rhythms of the city change.
    — Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2023
  • That’s good news for bivalve lovers, who descend in droves to shuck and slurp.
    — Shawnté Salabert, Outside Online, 4 Jan. 2023
  • That is a super weird way to descend an A-frame net.
    — Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Mar. 2026
  • The form is jagged on two sides, while heights descend from six to four stories on the east.
    — John King, San Francisco Chronicle, 10 Apr. 2021
  • The route started to descend steeply after just a third of a mile.
    — Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 30 Apr. 2026
  • In the third act, the film descends into darkness once again.
    — Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 13 Feb. 2025
  • Crews used ladders to descend into the deep hole.
    — Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 13 Apr. 2026
  • The officer begs him to stay awake, to stay alert as the paramedics descend.
    — Arkansas Online, 17 Apr. 2021
  • Their right legs are folded, while their left legs descend toward the floor.
    — Anthony Kuhn, NPR, 11 June 2026
  • Most of the deaths along the pass have happened while climbers are descending.
    — Becky Bohrer, Chicago Tribune, 29 May 2026
  • Most of the deaths along the pass have happened while climbers are descending.
    — Becky Bohrer, Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2026
  • The four men were on top of a steep ridge of snow and ice, pondering how to descend.
    — Ned Rozell, Anchorage Daily News, 19 Nov. 2022
  • Three globe pendant lights with rods that look like old roller skate keys descend over the island.
    — John R. Ellement, BostonGlobe.com, 5 July 2023
  • This is why most hosts do not stray far from the door as the party starts and the guests descend in a clump.
    — Judith Martin, Mercury News, 30 Apr. 2026
  • In short, the more dryness your strands have, the more frizz is prone to descend chaos upon your look.
    — Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 28 Sep. 2024
  • Hosts in the know have the drinks ready to pour before the revelers descend.
    — WSJ, 15 Dec. 2022
  • The search and rescue technical team was then called in to descend the canyon.
    — Danielle Wallace, Fox News, 12 Apr. 2021
  • The red sun that would have cued the living swifts to descend made nothing happen.
    — Karen Russell, The New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2021
  • In the late morning, the cranes started to descend back into the draw.
    — Lindsey Botts, The Arizona Republic, 11 Feb. 2022
  • But at the mile mark, the trail began to descend more fully into the trees.
    — Maura Fox, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Sep. 2025
  • The report states that the plane continued to turn right and descend.
    — Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Oct. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'descend.' 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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