What's the difference between "descent" and "appropriate"?

[Barton]

Perhaps it has something to do with a usage?

[Anglika]

What's the context?

[MarkHarrison]

Perhaps it has something to do with a usage?

I suspect you mean "decent" and "appropriate".

Appropriate means something like "suitable" or "well chosen".

Decent means something similar, but with more of a general moral judgement about it - it means something like "conforming to a social norm".


I would tend to use "appropriate" when talking about some thing's fitness for a specific situation, and "decent" when talking about some thing's or someone's fitness for society as a whole.

So:

A long, but bright red, dress would be perfectly decent, but not at all appropriate for wearing to a funeral.

Descent is a completely different word meaning "to go downwards", so an aeroplane starts a descent as it drops height on the path towards landing.

Mark