family vs descent

family and descent both are nouns.

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

As nouns, descent is a hypernym of family; that is, descent is a word with a broader meaning than family:

family (noun)	descent (noun)
primary social group; parents and children	the act of changing your location in a downward direction
people descended from a common ancestor	properties attributable to your ancestry
a social unit living together	a movement downward
(biology) a taxonomic group containing one or more genera	the hereditary derivation of an individual
a collection of things sharing a common attribute	a downward slope or bend
an association of people who share common beliefs or activities	the kinship relation between an individual and the individual's progenitors
a loose affiliation of gangsters in charge of organized criminal activities
a person having kinship with another or others