Word Confusion: Decent vs Descent vs Dissent

Posted March 12, 2018 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of 14 April 2021

Oh, yuh. I’ve come across a number of writers who are confused about the difference between decent, descent, and dissent (these last two are heterographs).

I’m guessing that the confusion over decent and descent was simply the missing “c” and spellcheck wouldn’t catch that. I do know that it was not a “trip to decent that mountain”. I could have missed some kind of reference to picking up litter on the way down. That would be one way to “decent that mountain”. God knows hikers are not always conscientious. Unfortunately, that thought didn’t fit the context.

A couple were confused about the difference between descent and ascent. I did have to wonder how a plane could crash on the valley floor when it was ascending.

As for the conflict I read between descent and dissent… No. It may well have been a decent dissent with no bottles thrown, but not when the writer is telling us that it’s a “descenting riot”… I’m sure they meant the riot was descending into chaos or some such. Oh, wait, maybe they meant they were cleaning the air! Ooh, I like that one.

Word Confusions…

…started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.

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Decent Descent Dissent
Credit to: Apple Dictionary.com; Dictionary.com: descent

The duchess is wearing a pale pink jacket buttoned to the neck with a matching hat and is standing next to the duke who is in his regimental uniform

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is Carfax2’s own work under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

The duchess is known for her conservative and decent clothing.


A young man descending a steep flight of stairs on a hillside

Descent of an Asian Backpacker is under the Pixabay License, via Pixabay.


xx

Poll Tax Riot, 31 March 1990, is James Bourne‘s own work and is under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

The dissent on being taxed for existence is quite heated.

Part of Grammar:
Adjective Noun
Plural for noun: descents
Noun;
Verb, intransitive

Plural for the noun and third person present verb: dissents
Past tense or past participle: dissented
Gerund or present participle: dissenting

Conforming with generally accepted standards of respectable or moral behavior

  • Appropriate
  • Fitting
  • Not likely to shock or embarrass others
  • [Informal] Sufficiently clothed to see visitors

[Attrib.] Of an acceptable standard

  • Satisfactory
  • Good
  • [British; informal] Kind, obliging, or generous
[Usually in singular] An action of moving downward, dropping, or falling

  • A downward slope, especially a path or track
  • A moral, social, or psychological decline into a specified undesirable state
  • Decline
  • The act, process, or fact of moving from a higher to a lower position

A passage or stairway leading down

[Anthropology & Ethnology] The origin or background of a person in terms of family or nationality

  • The transmission of qualities, property, or privileges by inheritance
  • Derivation from an ancestor
  • Lineage
  • Extraction

[Descent on] A sudden violent attack or raid

[Legal] Transmission of real property by intestate succession

[Medical] The passage of the presenting part of the fetus into and through the birth canal

Noun:
The expression or holding of opinions at variance with those previously, commonly, or officially held

  • [Legal] A judicial opinion reaching a conclusion contrary to that reached by the majority of judges deciding a case
    • A minority opinion
    • A dissenting opinion
  • [Also Dissent] Refusal to accept the doctrines of an established or orthodox Church
  • Nonconformity

Verb, intransitive:
Hold or express opinions that are at variance with those previously, commonly, or officially expressed

  • Separate from an established or orthodox church because of doctrinal disagreement
Examples:
After Hillary’s defeat, she should have done the decent thing and not go around hitting people and screaming like a fish wife.

Of course, Trump could do the decent thing and resign, relieving us of his idiotic tweets and tantrums.

It was a shame that they had besmirched the good name of such a decent and innocent person.

They would meet again after a decent interval.

At least she’s wearing a decent high-necked dress.

Make yourself decent, girl.

People need decent homes and jobs.

Oh lord, can you find me a decent cup of coffee?

A 14-inch spread is a pretty decent buck.

That was pretty awfully decent of him.

The plane had gone into a steep descent.

It was a steep, badly eroded descent.

The ancient empire’s slow descent into barbarism ended with a bang.

Immigrants of German and Polish descent settled in Milwaukee.

The descent of dozens of motorcycles terrified local residents.

Harvey Weinstein’s career had a quick descent after the charges of harassment came to light.

“To find the born and educated lady, on the other hand, we need look no farther than Hepzibah, our forlorn old maid, in her rustling and rusty silks, with her deeply cherished and ridiculous consciousness of long descent, her shadowy claims to princely territory, and, in the way of accomplishment, her recollections, it may be, of having formerly thrummed on a harpsichord, and walked a minuet, and worked an antique tapestry-stitch on her sampler.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House Of Seven Gables

Be careful, it’s a fairly steep descent.

The P-90 made an unexpected descent on the enemy airstrip.

The birth of Mrs. Partridge’s eighth son was a very quick descent.

Noun:
There was no dissent from this view.

The love-ins of the 1960s were intended as a peaceful form of dissent.

There is considerable dissent between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestants and “oriental Churches”, including the Eastern Orthodox Church, over the publication of “Response to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church”.

In Mona’s family, dissent was not heard from the children.

Verb, intransitive:
Two members dissented from the majority.

There were only a couple of dissenting voices.

The 95 Theses posted by Martin Luther dissented the corruption of the Catholic Church.

Too many husbands still believe it is the wife’s duty to neither assent or dissent their orders.

Jamie could not dissent, as it had been his idea.

Derivatives:
Adverb: decently Adjective: descendent
Noun: descendant, descendeur, predescent, redescent
Verb: descend
Adjective: dissentient, dissenting, nondissenting, undissenting
Adverb: dissentingly
Noun: dissidence, dissenter, nondissenting
History of the Word:
Mid-16th century in the sense of suitable, appropriate, from the Latin decent- meaning being fitting, from the verb decere. Middle English from the Old French descente, from descendre meaning to descend. Late Middle English from the Latin dissentire meaning differ in sentiment.

C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan…which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them…and we’ll all benefit!

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Pinterest Photo Credits:

Old Stone Stairs in Majorca, <https://visualhunt.com/photo/142053/>, is in the public domain and Lucha vaVoom, Big Day Out, <https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/8392280548/290a5fcbcb/>, by Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer, <https://visualhunt.com/author/f759aa>, and The Argument (<https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/12597412465/d82163fbb0/>) by Kurayba, <https://visualhunt.com/author/b8d074>, are under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license. All three are via VisualHunt.

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