descending (on or upon)

verb

present participle of descend (on or upon)
as in attacking
to take sudden, violent action against the shock troops descended on the village without warning

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for descending (on or upon)
  1. attacking
  2. raiding
  3. assaulting
  4. storming
  5. setting on
  6. striking
Verb
  • Spain’s front men are difficult to ignore Despite only one attacking return, Lamine Yamal ($10m) is still Spain’s most exciting fantasy option.
    — Abdul Rehman, New York Times, 14 July 2026
  • With control of a device, the hackers then use it as an exit node when probing or attacking targets in the communications, defense, energy, financial services, and government sectors.
    — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 13 July 2026
Definition of attacking
Verb
  • Want to stop raiding the fridge every night before bed?
    — Dr. Deepika Chopra, Flow Space, 16 June 2026
  • While our dreams of raiding Tay Tay’s closet will likely never come true, that won’t stop of from borrowing her style and shopping Swift’s favorite designer brands.
    — Jessie Quinn, StyleCaster, 16 June 2026
Definition of raiding
Verb
  • One of their bookshop employees was John Waters, later to become renowned as the taboo-assaulting filmmaker.
    — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 3 July 2026
  • Kieran McCool, 57, was convicted of assaulting a community worker.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 July 2026
Definition of assaulting
Verb
  • As for the ever-competitive Lead Actress category, CBS’ Beyond the Gates is finally storming the Emmys after debuting last February.
    — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 13 July 2026
  • There was a dominant Mercedes driver storming to yet another victory, crushing the hopes of a title rival.
    — Alex Kalinauckas, New York Times, 7 July 2026
Definition of storming
Verb
  • Select the clean or sanitize setting on your machine, or the longest, hottest setting available.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 27 June 2026
  • Behind her, the sun is setting on the horizon behind the ocean.
    — Lori A Bashian, FOXNews.com, 3 June 2026
Definition of setting on
Verb
  • One of the strongest super typhoons on the planet this year was striking the US Pacific Islands on Monday morning, the second massive storm to hit the territories since April.
    — Brad Lendon, CNN Money, 6 July 2026
  • Gomez's wedding guest dress also bore a striking resemblance to her 2025 Oscars dress, a custom off-the-shoulder piece by Ralph Lauren.
    — Chanel Vargas, InStyle, 5 July 2026
Definition of striking
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.

Browse Nearby Words

descending
descending (on or upon)
descend (on or upon)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Descending (on or upon).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/descending%20%28on%20or%20upon%29. Accessed 16 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of bibelot

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
banana-mirrored
Contradictory Words Quiz Pick out which word means one thing…and the opp...
See All