From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
descent
n 1: a movement downward
2: properties attributable to your ancestry; "he comes from good
origins" [syn: origin, descent, extraction]
3: the act of changing your location in a downward direction
4: the kinship relation between an individual and the
individual's progenitors [syn: descent, line of descent,
lineage, filiation]
5: a downward slope or bend [syn: descent, declivity,
fall, decline, declination, declension, downslope]
[ant: acclivity, ascent, climb, raise, rise,
upgrade]
6: the descendants of one individual; "his entire lineage has
been warriors" [syn: lineage, line, line of descent,
descent, bloodline, blood line, blood, pedigree,
ancestry, origin, parentage, stemma, stock]