ascendant
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: astrology
astronomy
biology
botany
human-sciences
medicine
mysticism
natural-sciences
philosophy
physiology
sciences
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.
Base: ascend
Affixes: -ant
Inflected forms:
form: more ascendant
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most ascendant
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: ascendent
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: ascendants
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: ascendent
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: Moving upward; ascending, rising.
pos: adj
examples: [A]ll true and frutefull Natvrall Philosophie, hath A double Scale or Ladder, Aſcendent and Deſcendent, aſcending from experiments to the Inuention of cauſes; and deſcending from cauſes, to the Inuention of nevve experiments; Therefore I iudge it moſt requiſite, that theſe tvvo parts be ſeuerally conſidered and handled.
[…] Chriſt, that he might not make either a ſuſpected or precarious Addreſs to Men's Underſtandings, out-does Moſes, before he diſplaces him; ſhevvs an aſcendant Spirit above him, raiſes the Dead, and cures more Plagues than he brought upon Egypt, […]
The body [of the dragon] mounts ascendant; / The head before, the tail behind, / The wings, like sails that want a wind, / On either side are pendant.
[A]s the proper profile for the curve is that of a tree bough, as we saw above, so the proper arrangement of its farther ornament is that which best expresses rooted and ascendant strength like that of foliage.
gloss: Controlling, dominant, surpassing.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: In some cases the conquering state contented itself with imposing a tribute on the vanquished: who, being, in consideration of that burthen, freed from the expense and trouble of their own military and naval protection, might enjoy under it a considerable share of economical prosperity, while the ascendant community obtained a surplus of wealth, available for purposes of collective luxury or magnificence.
Without some power of persuading or confuting—of defending himself against accusation, or in case of need, accusing others—no man could possibly hold an ascendent position.
At the same time, he [David Gelernter] sees our current society, where computers are ascendant, as lacking authority.
Now, with Syria's Kurds ascendant, hopes that the country as it is now may again be controlled from Damascus are also falling.
gloss: In an eastern direction rising just above the horizon.
pos: adj
examples: This Phœbus promis'd, I forget the Year, / VVhen thoſe blue eyes firſt open'd on the Sphere; / Aſcendant Phœbus vvatch'd that hour vvith care, / Averted half your Parents ſimple Pray'r, / And gave you Beauty, but deny'd the Pelf / That buys your Sex a Tyrant o'er itſelf: […]
gloss: Rising towards the zenith.
pos: adj
examples: [W]e muſt diſcover freezing ſtars that may reſolve the latter colds of vvinter, vvhich vvho ever deſires to invent, let him ſtudie the ſtarres of Andromeda, or the nearer conſtellation of Pegaſus, vvhich are about that time aſcendant.
gloss: Of a part of an organism: synonym of ascending (“leading or sloping upwards”).
pos: adj
examples: Artere ſouſclaviere. The aſcendant branch of the great Arterie.
gloss: Synonym of ascending (“of or pertaining to one's ancestors”).
pos: adj
tags: archaic
obsolete
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: also
figuratively
examples: [T]hey ſay that Jeſus in his natiuitie, had for his aſcendent, the ſigne of Virgo in her firſt face, as they terme it, […]
At my Nativity, my aſcendent vvas the earthly ſigne of Scorpius, I vvas borne in the Planetary houre of Saturne, and I think I have a piece of that Leaden Planet in me.
There he was a mere cypher: here he was lord of the ascendant; the choice spirit, the dominant genius.
The most important part of the sky in the astrologer's consideration, was that sign of the zodiac which rose at the moment of the child's birth; this was, properly speaking, the horoscope, the ascendant, or the first house; the whole circuit of the heavens being divided into twelve houses, in which life and death, marriage and children, riches and honours, friends and enemies were distributed.
gloss: Chiefly in in the ascendant: an act of ascending or rising.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
examples: Towards the end of the session of 1836, the hopes of the Conservative party were again in the ascendant.
[T]hose poets, […] by enriching the common language and by circulating from to town to town either in person or in their compositions, contributed to fan the flame of Pan-Hellenic patriotism at a time when there were few circumstances to co-operate with them, and when the causes tending to perpetuate isolation seemed in the ascendant.
gloss: Synonym of ascendancy (“commanding influence; dominant control; superiority, supremacy”).
pos: noun
tags: broadly
figuratively
examples: One man has the ascendant over another.
To my aſcendant haſting then to clime, / There are the firſt predomining the time.
[T]he Dominion of ſucceeding Favourites […] occaſioned perpetual commotions in that State, and changes of the Miniſtry; and vvould certainly have produced thoſe in the Government too; if [Cardinal] Richelieu having gained the abſolute aſcendant in that Court, had not engaged in the deſigns at firſt of a VVar upon the Hugonots, and after that vvas ended, upon Spain; […]
Chievres had acquired over the mind of the young monarch the aſcendant not only of a tutor, but of a parent.
gloss: An ancestor.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
examples: The Eſtate and Inheritance of a Perſon dying Inteſtate is, by Right of Devolution, according to the Civil-Lavv, given to ſuch as are ally'd to him ex Latere, commonly ſtiled Collaterals, if there be no Aſcendants or Deſcendants ſurviving at the time of his Death.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
obsolete
examples: Given his father’s ghastly demise, one would not expect such glee from the ascendant to his throne.
[P]ryde can endure no Superiours, no equals, no aſcendants, no ſprigs, no grafts, no likely beginnings.
gloss: 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”).
pos: noun
tags: broadly
obsolete
gloss: Something which leads or slopes upwards, such as a flight of stairs or an upward incline.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
obsolete
examples: [T]here can be no reaſon yeilded neither in nature, nor in relation, vvherefore, if it have lavvfully mounted thus high, it ſhould not be a Lordly aſcendent in the horoſcope of the Church, from Primate to Patriarch, and ſo to Pope.
gloss: A person who supports a policy of ecclesiastical or national supremacy.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
obsolete
rare
examples: Indeed, my dear Sir, there is not a single particular in the Francis-street declamations, which has not, to your and to my certain knowledge, been taught by the jealous ascendants, sometimes by doctrine, sometimes by example, always by provocation.
Related words: ascend
ascent
ascending
ascender
Derived words: ascendance
ascendancy
ascendency
ascendantly
ascendental
reascendant
in the ascendant
lord of the ascendant
Translations: