descent vs rappel

descent and rappel both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
descent	Yes	No	No	No
rappel	Yes	No	Yes	No

As nouns, rappel is a hyponym of descent; that is, rappel is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than descent:

descent: the act of changing your location in a downward direction
rappel: (mountaineering) a descent of a vertical cliff or wall made by using a doubled rope that is fixed to a higher point and wrapped around the body

Other hyponyms of descent include jump, parachuting, dive, nose dive, nosedive, abseil, swoop, crash dive, drop, collapse, flop.

descent (noun)	rappel (noun)
the act of changing your location in a downward direction	(mountaineering) a descent of a vertical cliff or wall made by using a doubled rope that is fixed to a higher point and wrapped around the body
properties attributable to your ancestry
a movement downward
the hereditary derivation of an individual
a downward slope or bend
the kinship relation between an individual and the individual's progenitors

descent (verb)	rappel (verb)
	descend by means of a rappel