descend from
phrasal verb
descended from; descending from; descends from
: to have (something or someone in the past) as an origin or source
Recent evidence supports the theory that birds descended from dinosaurs.
The plants descend from a common ancestor.
They claim to be descended from a noble British family.
Examples of descend from in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Each fragment of your DNA descends from a random line up your family tree – father’s mother’s mother’s father and so on – at each generation in the past, selecting at random one of two parents.
—
Discover Magazine, 8 Apr. 2024
Prior to this record, Tiller was toiling away on his Slum Tiller mixtape series, and much of Bryson Tiller descends from that work.
—Kyle Denis, Billboard, 8 Apr. 2024
Cardinale, a Goldman Sachs veteran famous in American sports, entertainment, and media, had descended from the boardroom to experience firsthand what kind of party one of Italian soccer’s most beloved teams would put on the day of its first championship in 11 years.
—Paolo Confino, Fortune, 30 Mar. 2024
These past decisions have culminated in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which can be seen as the Supreme Court clearing the way to eliminate the last legal tools to try to level the playing field for people who descend from slavery.
—Nikole Hannah-Jones, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2024
Ancestry’s findings, which were announced Monday (March 4), show that both Swift and the poet — who was born in 1830 and passed away at 55 years old in 1886 — are descended from the same 17th century English immigrant.
—Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 4 Mar. 2024
For instance, it’s known that newborns on the Humboldt beach descend from animals who ventured north from Point Reyes, but also Año Nuevo and San Simeon.
—Lisa M. Krieger, The Mercury News, 27 Feb. 2024
All birds descended from dinosaurs, and some of the earliest ones resembled them.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 8 Mar. 2024
The quilters are Black women descended from slaves, and their craft is a tradition born of necessity.
—Longreads, 1 Mar. 2024
Discover Magazine, 8 Apr. 2024
Prior to this record, Tiller was toiling away on his Slum Tiller mixtape series, and much of Bryson Tiller descends from that work.
—Kyle Denis, Billboard, 8 Apr. 2024
Cardinale, a Goldman Sachs veteran famous in American sports, entertainment, and media, had descended from the boardroom to experience firsthand what kind of party one of Italian soccer’s most beloved teams would put on the day of its first championship in 11 years.
—Paolo Confino, Fortune, 30 Mar. 2024
These past decisions have culminated in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which can be seen as the Supreme Court clearing the way to eliminate the last legal tools to try to level the playing field for people who descend from slavery.
—Nikole Hannah-Jones, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2024
Ancestry’s findings, which were announced Monday (March 4), show that both Swift and the poet — who was born in 1830 and passed away at 55 years old in 1886 — are descended from the same 17th century English immigrant.
—Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 4 Mar. 2024
For instance, it’s known that newborns on the Humboldt beach descend from animals who ventured north from Point Reyes, but also Año Nuevo and San Simeon.
—Lisa M. Krieger, The Mercury News, 27 Feb. 2024
All birds descended from dinosaurs, and some of the earliest ones resembled them.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 8 Mar. 2024
The quilters are Black women descended from slaves, and their craft is a tradition born of necessity.
—Longreads, 1 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'descend from.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near descend from
Cite this Entry
“Descend from.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/descend%20from. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.
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