• vi. 下降；下去；下来；遗传；屈尊
• vt. 下去；沿…向下

de-, 向下。-scend, 爬，上升，词源同ascend, scan.即爬下，下降。

descend

descend: [13] Etymologically, descend means ‘climb down’. Like its opposite, ascend [14], it comes ultimately from Latin scandere ‘climb’, which also produced English scan and scansion and is related to echelon, escalate, scale ‘set of graduated marks’, scandal, and slander. The Latin verb was a product of the Indo-European base *skand- ‘jump’.
=> ascend, echelon, escalate, scale, scan, scandal, slander

descend (v.)

c. 1300, from Old French descendre (10c.) "descend, dismount; fall into; originate in," from Latin descendere "come down, descend, sink," from de- "down" (see de-) + scandere "to climb," from PIE root *skand- "jump" (see scan (v.)). Sense of "originate" is late 14c. in English. Related: Descended; descending.

1. She's got too much dignity to descend to writing anonymous letters.

她是个自尊心很强的人，绝不会自贬身份去写匿名信。

来自柯林斯例句

2. As you descend, suddenly you see at last the hidden waterfall.

一直往下走，最终你会突然看到那条隐秘的瀑布。

来自柯林斯例句

3. Things are cooler and more damp as we descend to the cellar.

当我们往下走去地窖时，四周愈见阴冷潮湿。

来自柯林斯例句

4. The plane began to descend.

飞机开始降落。

来自《权威词典》

5. If a prisoner is badly treated, he may descend to violence.

如果囚犯受虐待, 他就可能发展到行凶.

来自《简明英汉词典》