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ASCENT
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of changing location in an upward direction
Synonyms:
ascending; ascension; ascent; rise
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("ascent" is a kind of...):
motion; move; movement (the act of changing location from one place to another)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ascent"):
levitation (the act of raising (a body) from the ground by presumably spiritualistic means)
heave; heaving (the act of lifting something with great effort)
climb; mount (the act of climbing something)
soar; zoom (the act of rising upward into the air)
Derivation:
ascend (travel up)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A movement upward
Example:
they cheered the rise of the hot-air balloon
Synonyms:
ascension; ascent; rise; rising
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("ascent" is a kind of...):
change of location; travel (a movement through space that changes the location of something)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ascent"):
climb; climbing; mounting (an event that involves rising to a higher point (as in altitude or temperature or intensity etc.))
elevation; lift; raising (the event of something being raised upward)
heave; heaving (an upward movement (especially a rhythmical rising and falling))
liftoff (the initial ascent of a rocket from its launching pad)
rapid climb; rapid growth; zoom (a rapid rise)
takeoff (the initial ascent of an airplane as it becomes airborne)
upheaval; uplift; upthrow; upthrust ((geology) a rise of land to a higher elevation (as in the process of mountain building))
uplifting (the rise of something)
Derivation:
ascend (travel up)
Sense 3
Meaning:
An upward slope or grade (as in a road)
Example:
the car couldn't make it up the rise
Synonyms:
acclivity; ascent; climb; raise; rise; upgrade
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Hypernyms ("ascent" is a kind of...):
incline; side; slope (an elevated geological formation)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ascent"):
uphill (the upward slope of a hill)
Antonym:
descent (a downward slope or bend)
Derivation:
ascend (slope upwards)
Context examples:
Here was the point, and this the means by which Maple White and his ill-fated comrade had made their ascent.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Winthrop, however, or its environs—for young men are, sometimes to be met with, strolling about near home—was their destination; and after another half mile of gradual ascent through large enclosures, where the ploughs at work, and the fresh made path spoke the farmer counteracting the sweets of poetical despondence, and meaning to have spring again, they gained the summit of the most considerable hill, which parted Uppercross and Winthrop, and soon commanded a full view of the latter, at the foot of the hill on the other side.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Johnson’s ascent was arrested.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
I thought of pursuing the devil; but it would have been in vain, for another flash discovered him to me hanging among the rocks of the nearly perpendicular ascent of Mont Salêve, a hill that bounds Plainpalais on the south. He soon reached the summit, and disappeared.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
After a long pause, therefore, to recover my breath and my courage, I continued my ascent.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It is certain that there is a point where an ascent is possible.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Because my predecessor, the American Maple White, actually made such an ascent.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
"If you have explored the east, we should travel along the base of the cliff to the west, and seek for a practicable point for our ascent."
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The crags above us were not merely perpendicular, but curved outwards at the top, so that ascent was out of the question.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was not more than forty feet across at the mouth, but it rapidly closed until it ended in an acute angle, too straight and smooth for an ascent.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
