ascent

English

Etymology

Formed from ascend on the model of descend/descent.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /əˈsɛnt/

  • Audio (Southern California):

    (file)

• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /əˈsent/
• Rhymes: -ɛnt
• Homophone: assent
• Hyphenation: as‧cent

Noun

ascent (countable and uncountable, plural ascents)

1. The act of ascending; a motion upwards.

   He made a tedious ascent of Mont Blanc.

2. The way or means by which one ascends.

   There is a difficult northern ascent from Malaucene of Mont Ventoux.

3. An eminence, hill, or high place.
4. The degree of elevation of an object, or the angle it makes with a horizontal line; inclination; gradient; steepness

   The road has an ascent of 5 degrees.

5. (typography) The ascender height in a typeface.
6. An increase, for example in popularity or hierarchy
   • 2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, “The Hunger Games”, in The AV Club‎:

     That such a safe adaptation could come of The Hunger Games speaks more to the trilogy’s commercial ascent than the book’s actual content, which is audacious and savvy in its dark calculations.

Derived terms

• ascent vehicle
• reascent

Translations

act of ascending; motion upwards

Arabic: صُعُود m (ṣuʕūd), تَسَلُّق m (tasalluq) Armenian: վերելք (hy) (verelkʻ) Bulgarian: издигане (bg) (izdigane), изкачване (bg) (izkačvane) Chinese: Mandarin: 上升 (zh) (shàngshēng) Dutch: stijging (nl) f Finnish: nousu (fi) German: Anstieg m, Aufstieg m; Besteigung f (of a mountain) Greek: Ancient: ἀνάβασις f (anábasis) Italian: salita (it) f, ascesa (it) f Latin: ascensus m Persian: صعود (fa), فرازش (fa) (farâzeš) Portuguese: ascensão (pt) f, subida (pt) f Quechua: wichay Russian: восхожде́ние (ru) n (vosxoždénije), подъём (ru) m (podʺjóm) Serbo-Croatian: uspon (sh) m Spanish: ascenso (es) m Ukrainian: підйом m (pidjom) Vietnamese: lên (vi)

way or means by which one ascends

Finnish: nousu (fi), nousureitti German: Aufstieg (de) m

eminence, hill, or high place

Bulgarian: стръмнина (bg) (strǎmnina) Finnish: korkea paikka German: Anhöhe (de) f Serbo-Croatian: uzvisina (sh) f Spanish: elevación (es) f

degree of elevation of an object, or the angle it makes with a horizontal line

Bulgarian: стръмност (strǎmnost), стръмнина (bg) (strǎmnina) Dutch: stijging (nl) f Finnish: nousu (fi), nousukulma German: Steigung (de) f, Anstieg (de) m Spanish: elevación (es) f

References

• “ascent”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• casten, enacts, scante, secant, stance