Descent may refer to:

As a noun

Genealogy and inheritance

Common descent Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. All living beings are in fact descendants of a unique ancestor commonly referred to as the last universal comm ...

, concept in evolutionary biology *

Kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

, one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology ** Pedigree chart or family tree **

Ancestry An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...

Lineal descendant A lineal descendant, in legal usage, is a blood relative in the direct line of descent – the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. of a person. In a legal procedure sense, lineal descent refers to the acquisition of estate by in ...

** Heritage ** Royal descent - lineal descent from a monarch * Phylogenetics **

Tree diagram (disambiguation) Tree diagram may refer to: * Tree structure, a way of representing the hierarchical nature of a structure in a graphical form Mathematics and logic * Tree diagram (probability theory), a diagram to represent a probability space in probability t ...

* Inheritance (law and property)

Mathematics

* Infinite descent, a method going back to Fermat to solve Diophantine equations * Descent (mathematics), an idea extending the notion of "gluing" in topology * Hadamard's method of descent, a technique for solving partial differential equations * Gradient descent, a first-order optimization algorithm going back to Newton * Descents in permutations, a classical

permutation In mathematics, a permutation of a set is, loosely speaking, an arrangement of its members into a sequence or linear order, or if the set is already ordered, a rearrangement of its elements. The word "permutation" also refers to the act or proc ...

statistic in combinatorics

Other uses

* Descent (aeronautics), the decrease of an aircraft in altitude during flight * Descent (font), the distance that a typeface descends below the baseline in typography * Katabasis

As a proper name

Film

* '' The Descent'', a 2005 horror film ** '' The Descent Part 2'', the 2009 sequel to the 2005 film * ''Descent'' (2007 film), a thriller film starring Rosario Dawson * ''Descent'' (2017 film), a Nigerian film

Gaming

* ''Descent'' (video game), first in a series from Interplay Entertainment and Parallax Software ** '' Descent II'', sequel to ''Descent'' ** '' Descent 3'', sequel to ''Descent II'' * '' Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War'', a 1998 space combat simulation computer game * '' Descent: Journeys in the Dark'', a 2005 board game by Fantasy Flight Games * '' Dragon Age: Inquisition – The Descent'', a 2015 downloadable content pack for ''Dragon Age: Inquisition''

Literature

* '' Descent: An Irresistible Tragicomedy of Everyday Life'', a 2004 novel by Sabrina Broadbent * ''The Descent'' (novel), by Jeff Long * ''Descent'' (magazine), a magazine about caving * ''Descent'' (journal), a genealogy journal published by the Society of Australian Genealogists

Music

* ''Descent'', an album by the band

This Burning Effigy This Burning Effigy were an Irish gothic rock/ethereal wave band, originally formed in Dublin in 1993, and consisting of members Stephen Carey (guitar and keyboards), Ger Egan (vocals), Micheal Cowley (bass), Brian Fallon (drums). They recorded on ...

* "Descent" (song), a song by Fear Factory from ''Obsolete'' * "Descent", a song by Godflesh from '' Us and Them'' * "Descent", a song by Knut from '' Bastardiser'' * "Descent", a song by Neurosis from ''

Times of Grace Times of Grace is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Southampton, Massachusetts. The group consists of Adam Dutkiewicz (Killswitch Engage) and Jesse Leach (Killswitch Engage, The Empire Shall Fall, and Seemless) while guit ...

'' * "A Descent", a song by Born of Osiris from ''

A Higher Place ''A Higher Place'' is the debut full-length album by American deathcore band Born of Osiris. It was released through Sumerian Records on July 7, 2009. ''A Higher Place'' debuted at number 73 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling over 6,000 copies. ...

'' * "The Descent", a song by Polaris from '' The Death of Me''

Television

* "Descent" (''Star Trek: The Next Generation''), a two-part 1993 episode of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' * "Descent" (''The Outer Limits''), a 1999 episode of ''The Outer Limits'' * "Descent" (''Stargate SG-1''), a 2002 episode of ''Stargate SG-1'' * "The Descent" (''The Vampire Diaries''), a 2011 episode of ''The Vampire Diaries'' * "Descent", a 2013 episode of '' NCIS: Los Angeles''