ascend Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb travel up, "We ascended the mountain"
    go up.
    • go up a ladder
    • The mountaineers slowly ascended the steep slope
  2. verb go back in order of genealogical succession
    • Inheritance may not ascend linearly
  3. verb become king or queen
    • She ascended to the throne after the King's death
  4. verb appear to be moving upward, as by means of tendrils
    climb up.
    • the vine climbed up the side of the house
  5. verb go along towards (a river's) source
    • The boat ascended the Delaware
  6. verb slope upwards
    • The path ascended to the top of the hill
  7. verb come up, of celestial bodies
    rise; uprise; come up.
    • The sun also rises
    • The sun uprising sees the dusk night fled...
    • Jupiter ascends
  8. verb move to a better position in life or to a better job
    rise; move up.
    • She ascended from a life of poverty to one of great

WordNet

As*cend" intransitive verb
Etymology
L. ascendere; ad + scandere to climb, mount. See Scan.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Ascended; present participle & verbal noun Ascending
Definitions
  1. To move upward; to mount; to go up; to rise; -- opposed to descend.
    Higher yet that star ascends. Bowring.
    I ascend unto my father and your father. John xx. 17.
    Formerly used with up.
    The smoke of it ascended up to heaven. Addison.
  2. To rise, in a figurative sense; to proceed from an inferior to a superior degree, from mean to noble objects, from particulars to generals, from modern to ancient times, from one note to another more acute, etc.; as, our inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity; to ascend to our first progenitor. Syn. -- To rise; mount; climb; scale; soar; tower.
As*cend" transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To go or move upward upon or along; to climb; to mount; to go up the top of; as, to ascend a hill, a ladder, a tree, a river, a throne.

Webster 1913