climb down vs descend

climb down and descend both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
climb down	No	No	Yes	No
descend	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, descend is a hypernym of climb down; that is, descend is a word with a broader meaning than climb down:

Other hypernyms of climb down include come down, fall, go down.

climb down (verb)	descend (verb)
come down	come as if by falling
	move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
	do something that one considers to be below one's dignity
	come from; be connected by a relationship of blood, for example