descants 1 of 2

present tense third-person singular of descant
1
as in lectures
to give a formal often extended talk on a subject an English professor who loves to descant on his beloved Shakespeare

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in chants
to produce musical sounds with the voice the world-famous soprano descanted above the melody line

Synonyms & Similar Words

descants

2 of 2

noun

variants also discants
plural of descant

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for descants
Verb
  • Today’s successful downtowns rely on a mix of ingredients, said Steven Falk, the former city manager of Lafayette, who’s served as an interim city executive in Oakland and Richmond and who lectures at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy.
    Martha Ross, Mercury News, 2 June 2026
  • Bad teams are given mechanisms to recover, not lectures about bootstraps.
    Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2026
Verb
  • As the crowd chants largely out of sight, heavy automatic gunfire can be heard for 15 uninterrupted seconds.
    Marin Scott, NBC news, 14 Jan. 2026
  • The Barmy Army chants restart as the England players partly walk over to applaud them.
    Tim Spiers, New York Times, 21 Dec. 2025
Noun
  • People themselves keep those choruses alive.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 4 June 2026
  • Unlike her first album, the compositions rarely built toward pop choruses or easy, identifiable emotion.
    Sam Sodomsky, Pitchfork, 24 May 2026
Noun
  • Its satellites have been blamed for interfering with astronomical observations and posing an ever-increasing risk of space collisions.
    Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2026
  • But their inner lives don’t hold shape the way her little girls (and boys) do, with their uncanny dialogue and idiosyncratic observations.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 8 June 2026
Verb
  • Born in New York to Nigerian parents, Folarin Balogun speaks with a British accent, courtesy of a childhood largely forged in England.
    Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 13 June 2026
  • OpenAI Ceo Sam Altman speaks to journalists after meeting with US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 3, 2026.
    Ashley Capoot, CNBC, 13 June 2026
Verb
  • Nikola Printz sings the title role, and the cast also includes Courtney Miller as Ruggiero, Shawnette Sulker as Morgana, and Sara Couden as Bradamante; Zachary Gordin is the director and Derek Tam conducts.
    Randy McMullen, Mercury News, 11 June 2026
  • It’s pressed French bread piled with bolo ham, shredded pork, aged prosciutto, Swiss and Spanish chorizo, a sandwich hybrid that sings.
    Phillip Valys, Sun Sentinel, 10 June 2026
Noun
  • The machine’s repertoire included answers to 12 riddles, passages from books, and laughing, crying and kissing sounds, as well as arias sung in both male and female voices—all feats that Edison’s phonograph would one day be able to accomplish by recording and playing back the human voice.
    Ron Cowen, Scientific American, 3 June 2026
  • Notable coloratura arias Coloratura arias are found in the works of Mozart, George Frideric Handel, and many other classical composers.
    René Ostberg, Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 May 2026
Noun
  • Mayor Lurie closed his remarks on an optimistic note, celebrating both the project and the community.
    Maddie White, CBS News, 10 June 2026
  • And Xi’s remarks this time around were also missing a key phrase.
    Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 9 June 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Descants.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/descants. Accessed 15 Jun. 2026.

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