Library / English Dictionary

ASCEND

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Travel up

Example:

The mountaineers slowly ascended the steep slope

Synonyms:

ascend; go up

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "ascend" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "ascend"):

come up; rise; rise up; surface (come to the surface)

uprise (ascend as a sound)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

The airplane is sure to ascend

Antonym:

descend (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)

Derivation:

ascent (a movement upward)

ascent (the act of changing location in an upward direction)

ascensive (tending or directed upward)

ascension (a movement upward)

ascension (the act of changing location in an upward direction)

ascender (someone who ascends)

ascendant (tending or directed upward)

ascendable (capable of being ascended)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move to a better position in life or to a better job

Example:

She ascended from a life of poverty to one of great renown

Synonyms:

ascend; move up; rise

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "ascend" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Come up, of celestial bodies

Example:

Jupiter ascends

Synonyms:

ascend; come up; rise; uprise

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "ascend" is one way to...):

arise; come up; go up; lift; move up; rise; uprise (move upward)

Domain category:

astronomy; uranology (the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

ascendent (tending or directed upward)

ascension ((astronomy) the rising of a star above the horizon)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Slope upwards

Example:

The path ascended to the top of the hill

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "ascend" is one way to...):

incline; pitch; slope (be at an angle)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

ascendant; ascendent (tending or directed upward)

ascender (a lowercase letter that has a part extending above other lowercase letters)

ascensive (tending or directed upward)

ascent (an upward slope or grade (as in a road))

Sense 5

Meaning:

Go along towards (a river's) source

Example:

The boat ascended the Delaware

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "ascend" is one way to...):

follow; travel along (travel along a certain course)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Appear to be moving upward, as by means of tendrils

Example:

the vine climbed up the side of the house

Synonyms:

ascend; climb up

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 7

Meaning:

Become king or queen

Example:

She ascended to the throne after the King's death

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "ascend" is one way to...):

accede; enter (take on duties or office)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

ascendancy (the state that exists when one person or group has power over another)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Go back in order of genealogical succession

Example:

Inheritance may not ascend linearly

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "ascend" is one way to...):

date back; date from; go back (belong to an earlier time)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Credits

 Context examples: 

Number two in the Court was soon reached; and an inscription on the door-post informing me that Mr. Traddles occupied a set of chambers on the top storey, I ascended the staircase.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The HAP consists of 94 common daily activities listed in ascending order according to the energy required to perform them.

(Human Activity Profile Test, NCI Thesaurus)

The bend of the colon at the juncture of its ascending and transverse portions.

(Hepatic Flexure, NCI Thesaurus)

As a thiazide-like diuretic, fenquizone acts by blocking reabsorption of sodium in the proximal tubule and the ascending branch of the loop of Henle.

(Fenquizone, NCI Thesaurus)

A compound that inhibits symport of sodium, potassium, and chloride primarily in the ascending limb of Henle, but also in the proximal and distal tubules.

(Ethacrynic Acid, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The curved section of the aorta between the ascending and the descending tracts.

(Aortic Arch, NCI Thesaurus)

When he was ascending the stairs with them, the gardener met him, and said: How can you take the king’s daughter a garland of such common flowers?

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

An artery arising from the common carotid artery at the level of the upper border of the thyroid cartilage that ascends the neck forming eight different branches.

(External Carotid Artery, NCI Thesaurus)

Acute infection of the bile ducts caused by bacteria ascending from the small intestine.

(Ascending Cholangitis, NCI Thesaurus)

A well differentiated, low grade neuroendocrine tumor (carcinoid tumor) that arises from the ascending colon.

(Ascending Colon Neuroendocrine Tumor G1, NCI Thesaurus)