ascendant

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Middle French ascendant, from Latin ascendens.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /əˈsɛndənt/
  • Audio (RP)(file)

Adjective[edit]

ascendant (comparative more ascendant, superlative most ascendant)

  1. Rising, moving upward.
  2. Surpassing or controlling.
    • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), 6th edition, London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, OCLC 21766567:
      An ascendant spirit above him.
    • 1848, John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy
      The ascendant community obtained a surplus of wealth.

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

ascendant (plural ascendants)

  1. Being in control; superiority, or commanding influence; ascendency.
    One man has the ascendant over another.
    • 1672, William Temple, “An Essay upon the Original and Nature of Government. […]”, in Miscellanea. The First Part. [...], 3rd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], and Awnsham and John Churchill, […], published 1691, OCLC 1113628240, pages 91–92:
      [T]he Dominion of ſucceeding Favourites [...] occaſioned perpetual commotions in that State, and changes of the Miniſtry; and would 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 War upon the Hugonots, and after that was ended, upon Spain; [...]
    • 1769, William Robertson, History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V:
      Chievres had acquired over the mind of the young monarch the ascendant not only of a tutor, but of a parent.
  2. An ancestor (antonym of descendant)
    • 1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon juris canonici Anglicani
      Ascendants and Descendants , are , by the Civil Law , stiled by the Title of Nefarious as well as Incestuous , to shew the Abhorrence that Law has of such kind of Marriages.
  3. (usu. followed by to) A royal heir assuming (a place of power)
    Given his father’s ghastly demise, one would not expect such glee from the ascendant to his throne.
  4. Ascent; height; elevation.
  5. (astrology) The horoscope, or that degree of the ecliptic which rises above the horizon at the moment of one's birth; supposed to have a commanding influence on a person's life and fortune.
    • May 26 1795, Edmund Burke, letter to Hercules Langrish
      taught by the jealous ascendants, sometimes by doctrine, sometimes by example, always by provocation.

Translations[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Latin ascendens, ascendentem.

Pronunciation[edit]

Participle[edit]

ascendant

  1. present participle of ascendre

Adjective[edit]

ascendant (feminine ascendante, masculine plural ascendants, feminine plural ascendantes)

  1. ascendant

Derived terms[edit]

Noun[edit]

ascendant m (plural ascendants)

  1. (astrology) ascendant
  2. supremacy, ascendancy
    L'équipe adverse a repris l'ascendant du match. ― The opposing team regained the supremacy of the match.
  3. (genealogy) ancestor, forefather, progenitor

Further reading[edit]

Latin[edit]

Verb[edit]

ascendant

  1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of ascendō
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