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Added 9 October 2026

ascendant

/əˈsɛnd(ə)nt/ noun

Latin root: ascendentem Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about ascendant at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

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).

adjective

Tending or directed upward.
rooted and ascendant strength like that of foliage
Most powerful or important or influential.
the economically ascendant class

Origin

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)”)).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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