ascend
[uh-send]
- to move, climb, or go upward; mount; rise: The airplane ascended into the clouds.
- to slant upward.
- to rise to a higher point, rank, or degree; proceed from an inferior to a superior degree or level: to ascend to the presidency.
- to go toward the source or beginning; go back in time.
- Music. to rise in pitch; pass from any tone to a higher one.
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- to go or move upward upon or along; climb; mount: to ascend a lookout tower; to ascend stairs.
- to gain or succeed to; acquire: to ascend the throne.
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Origin of ascend
Synonyms
See more synonyms for ascend on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
1, 6. descend.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ascend
Contemporary Examples
Under Henry II, Marshal continued to ascend, as the king rewarded his service with land, a wife, and a title.
The opposite phenomenon also occurs: neglected writers who ascend to prominence only posthumously.
Then there are those who have strong vocals, but have yet to ascend to massive career success or freakish mainstream popularity.
The transformation begins even before you step foot in the town-palace and ascend its grand stairway.
His opponents are up against the bizarre logic that pushed the crack-smoking Toronto mayor to ascend and survive.
Historical Examples
Then I heard a voice, saying, 'Lo, the soul seeketh to ascend!'
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
At length, when we were nearly under the peak, he began to ascend.
Green MansionsW. H. Hudson
He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth.
Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. IFrancis Augustus Cox
I, humble representative of the uncommercial interest, ascend with the rest.
The Uncommercial TravellerCharles Dickens
We came the same evening to the foot of it, but the day was too far advanced to ascend it.
The History of LouisianaLe Page Du Pratz
ascend
- to go or move up (a ladder, hill, slope, etc); mount; climb
- (intr) to slope or incline upwards
- (intr) to rise to a higher point, level, degree, etc
- to follow (a river) upstream towards its source
- to trace (a genealogy, etc) back in time
- to sing or play (a scale, arpeggio, etc) from the lower to higher notes
- ascend the throne to become king or queen
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin ascendere, from scandere
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for ascend
v.
late 14c., from Latin ascendere "to climb up, mount, ascend," figuratively "to rise, reach," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + scandere "to climb" (see scan (v.)). Also in 15c. used with a sense "to mount (a female) for copulation." Related: Ascended; ascending. An Old English word for it was stigan.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper