Definition of ASCENDANT

ascendant

Meanings

Plural: ascendants

Noun

  • position or state of being dominant or in control
    • "that idea was in the ascendant"
  • someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)
  • The degree of the zodiac or point of the ecliptic which rises in an eastern direction above the horizon at a particular moment (especially the moment of a person's birth), which is supposed to have a commanding influence on a person's fortune and life; a horoscope.
  • Chiefly in in the ascendant: an act of ascending or rising.
  • Synonym of ascendancy (“commanding influence; dominant control; superiority, supremacy”).
  • An ancestor.
  • A person who ascends or goes up; specifically (usually followed by to), a person who ascends to a throne or assumes some other position of power.
  • Something which is higher than the things around it; a peak, a summit; specifically (typography), synonym of ascender (“the portion of a lowercase letter that extends above the midline”).
  • Something which leads or slopes upwards, such as a flight of stairs or an upward incline.
  • A person who supports a policy of ecclesiastical or national supremacy.

Adjective Satellite

  • tending or directed upward; - John Ruskin
    • "rooted and ascendant strength like that of foliage"
  • most powerful or important or influential
    • "the economically ascendant class"

Adj

  • Moving upward; ascending, rising.
  • Controlling, dominant, surpassing.
  • In an eastern direction rising just above the horizon.
  • Rising towards the zenith.
  • Of a part of an organism: synonym of ascending (“leading or sloping upwards”).
  • Synonym of ascending (“of or pertaining to one's ancestors”).

Origin / Etymology

PIE word
*h₂éd
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English ascendent (“ascending, rising; increasing in quantity; (astronomy) rising above the horizon”) [and other forms], borrowed from Old French ascendant, from Latin ascendentem, the accusative singular of ascendēns (“ascending, rising”), the present participle of ascendō, adscendō (“to climb up, go up, move upwards; to rise; to spring up”), from ad- (prefix meaning ‘(up) to’) + scandō (“to ascend, climb, mount; to clamber”) (from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to climb, scale; to dart; to jump; to scan (poetry)”)). The English word is analysable as ascend (verb) + -ant (suffix forming adjectives from verbs with the sense of ‘doing [the verbal actions]’).
The noun is probably derived from the adjective, though it is attested earlier than the latter.

Antonyms

descendant

Scrabble Score: 12

ascendant is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
ascendant is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
ascendant is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 15

ascendant is a valid Words With Friends word