Descending \De*scend"ing\, a. Of or pertaining to descent; moving downwards. [1913 Webster] {Descending constellations} or {Descending signs} (Astron.), those through which the planets descent toward the south. {Descending node} (Astron.), that point in a planet's orbit where it intersects the ecliptic in passing southward. {Descending series} (Math.), a series in which each term is numerically smaller than the preceding one; also, a series arranged according to descending powers of a quantity. [1913 Webster]