Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Descendant

De-scend′ant

,
Adj.
[F.
descendant
, p. pr. of
descendre
. Cf.
Descendent
.]
Descendent.

De-scend′ant

,
Noun.
One who descends, as offspring, however remotely; – correlative to ancestor or ascendant.
Our first parents and their
descendants
.
Hale.
The
descendant
of so many kings and emperors.
Burke.

Webster 1828 Edition


Descendant

DESCENDANT

,
Noun.
Any person proceeding from an ancestor in any degree; issue; offspring, in the line of generation, ad infinitum. We are all the descendants of Adam and Eve.

Definition 2024


descendant

descendant

English

Adjective

descendant (not comparable)

  1. descending from a biological ancestor.
  2. proceeding from a figurative ancestor or source.

Usage notes

The adjective may be spelled either with ant or ent as the final syllable (see descendent). The noun may be spelled only with ant.

Alternative forms

Antonyms

Related terms

Noun

descendant (plural descendants)

  1. (literally) One who is the progeny of a specified person, at any distance of time or through any number of generations.
    The patriarch survived many descendants: five children, a dozen grandchildren, even a great grandchild.
  2. (figuratively) A thing that derives directly from a given precursor or source.
    This famous medieval manuscript has many descendants.
  3. (biology) A later evolutionary type.
    Dogs evolved as descendants of early wolves.
  4. (linguistics) A language that is descended from another.
    English and Scots are the descendants of Old English.
  5. (linguistics) A word or form in one language that is descended from a counterpart in an ancestor language.
    • 1993, Jens Elmegård Rasmussen, “The Slavic i-verbs with an excursus on the Indo-European ē-verbs”, in Bela Brogyanyi and Reiner Lipp (editors), Comparative-Historical Linguistics, John Benjamins Publishing, ISBN 978-90-272-3598-5, page 479:
      The direct descendant of this form is the Slavic aorist: Sb.-Cr. nȍsī, dȍnosī.

Usage notes

The adjective may be spelled either with ant or ent as the final syllable (see descendent). The noun may be spelled only with ant.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

  • direct descendant
  • indirect descendant

Translations

See also


French

Etymology

From Latin dēscendēns, the present participle of descendere, itself from + scandere (climb, ascend).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /de.sɑ̃.dɑ̃/

Verb

descendant

  1. present participle of descendre

Noun

descendant m (plural descendants, feminine descendante)

  1. A descendant; one who is the progeny of someone at any distance of time; e.g. a child; a grandchild, etc.

Antonyms

Adjective

descendant m (feminine singular descendante, masculine plural descendants, feminine plural descendantes)

  1. (which is) descending.

Antonyms

Related terms


Latin

Verb

dēscendant

  1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of dēscendō