Decent vs. Descent — What's the Difference?

Conforming with generally accepted standards of respectable or moral behaviour

An act of moving downwards, dropping, or falling

Of an acceptable standard; satisfactory

The origin or background of a person in terms of family or nationality

Characterized by conformity to recognized standards of propriety or morality

A sudden violent attack

Morally upright; moral or respectable

The act or an instance of descending

Kind or obliging

A way down

Showing thoughtfulness or consideration

A downward incline or passage; a slope

Free from indelicacy or obscenity; clean

Hereditary derivation; lineage

Fairly good; acceptable; satisfactory

The fact or process of being derived or developing from a source

Suitable; fitting

(Law) Transmission of property, especially real estate, to a hereditary heir by an intestate owner.

(Informal) Properly or modestly dressed

A lowering or decline, as in status or level

(obsolete) Appropriate; suitable for the circumstances.

A sudden visit or attack; an onslaught

(of a person) Having a suitable conformity to basic moral standards; showing integrity, fairness, or other characteristics associated with moral uprightness.

An instance of descending; act of coming down.

(informal) Sufficiently clothed or dressed to be seen.

A way down.

Fair; acceptable; okay.

A sloping passage or incline.

Significant; substantial.

Lineage or hereditary derivation.

Conforming to perceived standards of good taste.

A drop to a lower status or condition; decline. en

(obsolete) Comely; shapely; well-formed.

A falling upon or invasion.

Suitable in words, behavior, dress, or ceremony; becoming; fit; decorous; proper; seemly; as, decent conduct; decent language.

(topology) A particular extension of the idea of gluing. See Descent (mathematics).

Free from immodesty or obscenity; modest.

The act of descending, or passing downward; change of place from higher to lower.

Comely; shapely; well-formed.

Incursion; sudden attack; especially, hostile invasion from sea; - often followed by upon or on; as, to make a descent upon the enemy.

Moderate, but competent; sufficient; hence, respectable; fairly good; reasonably comfortable or satisfying; as, a decent fortune; a decent person.

Derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure by generation; lineage; birth; extraction.

Socially or conventionally correct; refined or virtuous;

Progress downward, as in station, virtue, as in station, virtue, and the like, from a higher to a lower state, from a higher to a lower state, from the more to the less important, from the better to the worse, etc.

According with custom or propriety;

Transmission of an estate by inheritance, usually, but not necessarily, in the descending line; title to inherit an estate by reason of consanguinity.

Conforming to conventions of sexual behavior;

Inclination downward; a descending way; inclined or sloping surface; declivity; slope; as, a steep descent.

Enough to meet a purpose;

That which is descended; descendants; issue.

Decently clothed;

A step or remove downward in any scale of gradation; a degree in the scale of genealogy; a generation.

Observing conventional sexual mores in speech or behavior or dress;

Lowest place; extreme downward place.

In the right manner;

A movement downward

Properties attributable to your ancestry;

The act of changing your location in a downward direction

The kinship relation between an individual and the individual's progenitors

A downward slope or bend

The descendants of one individual;