ascend

[uh-send]

verb (used without object)

1. to move, climb, or go upward; mount; rise.

   The airplane ascended into the clouds.

   Synonyms: soar
   Antonyms: descend

2. to slant upward.

3. to rise to a higher point, rank, or degree; proceed from an inferior to a superior degree or level.

   to ascend to the presidency.

4. to go toward the source or beginning; go back in time.

5. Music.,  to rise in pitch; pass from any tone to a higher one.

verb (used with object)

1. to go or move upward upon or along; climb; mount.

   to ascend a lookout tower;

   to ascend stairs.

   Antonyms: descend

2. to gain or succeed to; acquire.

   to ascend the throne.

ascend

/ əˈsɛnd /

verb

1. to go or move up (a ladder, hill, slope, etc); mount; climb

2. (intr) to slope or incline upwards

3. (intr) to rise to a higher point, level, degree, etc

4. to follow (a river) upstream towards its source

5. to trace (a genealogy, etc) back in time

6. to sing or play (a scale, arpeggio, etc) from the lower to higher notes

7. to become king or queen

Other Word Forms

• ascendable adjective
• ascendible adjective
• reascend verb
• unascendable adjective
• unascended adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ascend¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English ascenden, from Anglo-French ascendre, from Latin ascendere “to climb up,” from a- a- ⁵ + -scendere, combining form of scandere “to climb”

Word History and Origins

Origin of ascend¹

C14: from Latin ascendere, from scandere

Synonym Study

See climb.

Example Sentences

To give a young ascending front an experienced player.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

They dined at the property with Queen Camilla and King Charles III before he ascended to the throne.

Read more on BBC

Jim MacLeod, 24, his older brother Glen and a friend had climbed the challenging mountaineer’s route, which ascends the east face.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The Burton brothers reflected a dichotomy in California politics, rising from the left while Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan ascended from the right, against the swirl of the Bay Area’s brand of radical politics.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The earl is shocked to discover that the family would have neighbors and that he’d have to “go along” the hallway to bed rather than ascend the stairs as he would in a grand home.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• climb 
• escalate 
• move up 
• soar 
• take off