different between descent vs drown

English

Etymology

From Middle English and Anglo-Norman descente, from Anglo-Norman descendre (“to descend”); see descend. Compare ascent, ascend. Doublet of desant.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??s?nt/
• Homophones: dissent (for some dialects)

Noun

descent (countable and uncountable, plural descents)

1. An instance of descending; act of coming down.
   • 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

     The next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started the descent.

2. A way down.

   We had difficulty in finding the correct descent.

3. A sloping passage or incline.

   The descent into the cavern was wet and slippery.

4. Lineage or hereditary derivation.

   Our guide was of Welsh descent.

5. A drop to a lower status or condition; decline. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

   After that, the holiday went into a steep descent.

6. A falling upon or invasion.
7. (topology) A particular extension of the idea of gluing. See Descent (mathematics).

Usage notes

• Sometimes confused with decent.

Antonyms

• (going down): ascent

Derived terms

• hypodescent, hyperdescent

Related terms

• descend

Translations

Further reading

• descent in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• descent in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• cedents, scented

English

Etymology

From Middle English drownen, drounen, drunen (“to drown”), of obscure and uncertain origin.

The OED suggests an unattested Old English form *dr?nian . Harper 2001 points to Old English druncnian, ?edruncnian (> Middle English drunknen, dronknen (“to drown”)), "probably influenced" by Old Norse drukkna (cf. Icelandic drukkna, Danish drukne (“to drown”)) . Funk & Wagnall's has 'of uncertain origin'. It has been theorised (see e.g. ODS) that it may represent a direct loan of Old Norse drukkna, but this is described by the OED as being "on phonetic and other grounds [...] highly improbable" , unless one considers the possibility of an unattested variant in Old Norse *drunkna.

Pronunciation

• enPR: droun, IPA^(key): /d?a?n/, [d??????a?n]
• Rhymes: -a?n

Verb

drown (third-person singular simple present drowns, present participle drowning, simple past and past participle drowned)

1. (intransitive) To die from suffocation while immersed in water or other fluid.

   When I was a baby, I nearly drowned in the bathtub.

   • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece,^[1]

     Old woes, not infant sorrows, bear them mild;

     Continuance tames the one; the other wild,

     Like an unpractised swimmer plunging still,

     With too much labour drowns for want of skill.

2. (transitive) To kill by suffocating in water or another liquid.

   The car thief fought with an officer and tried to drown a police dog before being shot while escaping.

   • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act III, Scene 2,^[2]

     The pretty-vaulting sea refused to drown me,

     Knowing that thou wouldst have me drown’d on shore,

     With tears as salt as sea, through thy unkindness:

3. (intransitive) To be flooded: to be inundated with or submerged in (literally) water or (figuratively) other things; to be overwhelmed.

   We are drowning in information but starving for wisdom.

   • 1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 2:

     Penny Guy: Bloody hell, Rog, whadda you want?
     Roger O'Neill: To drown in your arms and hide in yer eyes, darlin'.

4. (transitive, figuratively) To inundate, submerge, overwhelm.

   He drowns his sorrows in buckets of chocolate ice cream.

   • 1599, John Davies, Nosce Teipsum, London: John Standish, p. 19,^[3]

     Though most men being in sensuall pleasures drownd,

     It seemes their Soules but in the Senses are.

   • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act II, Scene 7,^[4]

     Come, thou monarch of the vine,

     Plumpy Bacchus with pink eyne!

     In thy fats our cares be drown’d,

     With thy grapes our hairs be crown’d:

   • 1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, a Tragedy, London: J. Tonson, Act II, Scene 1, p. 23,^[5]

     My private Voice is drown’d amid the Senate’s.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dublin: John Smith, Volume 2, Book 7, Chapter 14, pp. 71-72,^[6]

     Unluckily that worthy Officer having, in a literal Sense, taken his Fill of Liquor, had been some Time retired to his Bolster, where he was snoaring so loud, that it was not easy to convey a Noise in at his Ears capable of drowning that which issued from his Nostrils.

5. (transitive, figuratively, usually passive) To obscure, particularly amid an overwhelming volume of other items.

   The answers intelligence services seek are often drowned in the flood of information they can now gather.

Usage notes

When using the term figuratively to describe overwhelming sounds, the form drown out is now usually employed.

Synonyms

• (to cover, as with water): flood, inundate

Derived terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

• N-word, n-word

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /drou?n/

Verb

drown

1. Soft mutation of trown.

Mutation