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
Lee notes the irony that most Black Americans descend from enslaved Africans who were stolen from their homelands specifically for their expertise in land stewardship and farming.
—
Tyrone Beason, Los Angeles Times, 19 May 2024
Among the dozens of people who spoke against restoring the old names were white county residents who said they were descended from Confederate soldiers and Black residents who were among the first to integrate the local schools.
—Campbell Robertson, New York Times, 10 May 2024
Clad in Prusa's signature colors, the MK4 is Prusa Research's flagship 3D printer, directly descended from the Prusa I2 which the Czech company sold at its 2012 inception.
—PCMAG, 30 Apr. 2024
All the males in the study were descended from a few adult men buried with rich grave goods, assumed to be the founders of the community.
—Byandrew Curry, science.org, 24 Apr. 2024
While it is descended from hybrids, H. elevatus is also a distinct butterfly species and has its own individual traits.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 17 Apr. 2024
Already 220 minutes long, the broadcast window with commercials has ballooned to four hours and 44 minutes, spilling out of primetime before Moses can descend from Mount Sinai with the you-know-what.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 27 Mar. 2024
Swift and Dickinson both descend from a 17th century English immigrant (Swift’s 9th great-grandfather and Dickinson’s 6th great-grandfather who was an early settler of Windsor, Connecticut).
—Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 4 Mar. 2024
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
Tyrone Beason, Los Angeles Times, 19 May 2024
Among the dozens of people who spoke against restoring the old names were white county residents who said they were descended from Confederate soldiers and Black residents who were among the first to integrate the local schools.
—Campbell Robertson, New York Times, 10 May 2024
Clad in Prusa's signature colors, the MK4 is Prusa Research's flagship 3D printer, directly descended from the Prusa I2 which the Czech company sold at its 2012 inception.
—PCMAG, 30 Apr. 2024
All the males in the study were descended from a few adult men buried with rich grave goods, assumed to be the founders of the community.
—Byandrew Curry, science.org, 24 Apr. 2024
While it is descended from hybrids, H. elevatus is also a distinct butterfly species and has its own individual traits.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 17 Apr. 2024
Already 220 minutes long, the broadcast window with commercials has ballooned to four hours and 44 minutes, spilling out of primetime before Moses can descend from Mount Sinai with the you-know-what.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 27 Mar. 2024
Swift and Dickinson both descend from a 17th century English immigrant (Swift’s 9th great-grandfather and Dickinson’s 6th great-grandfather who was an early settler of Windsor, Connecticut).
—Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 4 Mar. 2024
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
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 23 May. 2024.
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