descendant
descendant
Definition
de·scend·ant (dē sen′dənt, di-)
adjective
descending
also descendent de·scend′·ent
Etymology: ME descendaunt < OFr descendant < L descendens, prp. of descendere: see descend
noun
- a person who is an offspring, however remote, of a certain ancestor, family, group, etc.
- something that derives from an earlier form
descendant
Law Definition
n
A persons child,
grandchild, great-grandchild, or other offspring in the direct line of descent.
descendant
Usage Examples
Preposition: of
- settler: The descendants of these settlers ran Egypt for a thousand years, right down to the Arab conquest.
- slave: A pressure group of " descendants of slaves " took him to court for " disputing a crime against humanity " .
- immigrant: The descendants of French immigrants, these people lived in small farming villages without healthcare or contraception.
- ancestor: This chart may also be used to determine the relationship between ANY TWO DESCENDANTS of a common ancestor.
- inhabitant: In addition interviews with residents, some of whom were descendants of the original inhabitants, were also conducted.
- node: The descendants of a node are the children of the node and the descendants of the children of the node.
Converse of subject
- inhabit: This area is now inhabited by the descendants of European settlers and African slaves who arrived just 500 years ago.
Converse of object
- trace: Matthew traces the descendants of Abraham, all the way from Abraham himself, down to Joseph.
- survive: Their last surviving descendant was said to have died in the 19th century.
- live: Burials are not disturbed where there is a possibility of living descendants.
- leave: He will then leave more descendants who in turn do not act for the group.
- seek: New member Ian Sewell has traced his family back to Thomas Sewell in Munton Essex around 1772 and was seeking descendants.
Adjective modifier
- lineal: A further change was introduced in 1805 when the Order was extended to include lineal descendants of George II.
- velvet-eyed: The velvet-eyed descendant of Eve shot a fearful glance at him and continued, still casually tracing invisible arabesques with her foil's point.
- direct: The Scottish Blues Brothers are direct descendants of old Blind Doug himself.
- male: His male descendants range around the room down to my brother.
- distant: Or if you are from central England or East Anglia, you could be a distant descendant of the Saxons and Angles.
- immediate: Were some of Vortigern's immediate descendants still in positions of authority, still to be reckoned with?
Noun used with modifier
- living: His only living descendant in our day was an elderly Mr Jacob, who kept the small village store.
- generation: His Eminence is the 26th generation descendant of Shinran himself.
Browse dictionary entries near descendant
- descend on
- descend
- Descartes
- descant
- desalt
- desalinizing
- desalinized
- desalinize
- desalinization
- desalination
- descendants
- descendent
- descender
- descendible
- descent
- Deschutes
- descramble
- descrambled
- descrambler
- descrambling
