ascend

English

Etymology

From Middle English ascenden, borrowed from Old French ascendre, from Latin ascendō (“to go up, climb up to”), from ad (“to”) + scandō (“to climb”); see scan. Unrelated to accede other than common ad prefix.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈsɛnd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnd
• Hyphenation: as‧cend

Verb

ascend (third-person singular simple present ascends, present participle ascending, simple past and past participle ascended)

1. (intransitive) To move upward, to fly, to soar.

   He ascended to heaven upon a cloud.

2. (intransitive) To slope in an upward direction.
3. (transitive) To go up.

   You ascend the stairs and take a right.

4. (transitive, intransitive) To succeed a ruler on (the throne).

   She ascended the throne when her mother abdicated.

   She ascended to the throne when her mother abdicated.

5. (intransitive, figurative) To rise; to become higher, more noble, etc.
6. To trace, search or go backwards temporally (e.g., through records, genealogies, routes, etc.).

   Our inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity.

7. (transitive, music) To become higher in pitch.
8. (incel slang) To lose one's virginity, especially of a man through unpaid and consensual sexual intercourse with a woman.

Antonyms

• descend

Derived terms

• unascended

 

ascendible

Derived terms

• ascendable
• en
• reascend

 

Related terms

• ascent
• ascendant
• ascendance
• ascendancy/ascendency
• ascending
• ascender
• ascension
• transcend

Translations

to fly, to soar

• Albanian: hipën
• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: طلع (ṭiliʕ)

• Armenian: ելնել (hy) (elnel), բարձրանալ (hy) (barjranal)
• Basque: igo
• Bulgarian: изгрявам (bg) (izgrjavam), изкачвам се (izkačvam se)
• Burmese: တက် (my) (tak)
• Catalan: ascendir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Literary Chinese: 躋 (jī)

  Mandarin: 登 (zh) (dēng)

• Czech: stoupat (cs)
• Danish: stige (da)
• Dutch: stijgen (nl), opgaan (nl), opvaren (nl)
• Esperanto: supreniri, plialtiĝi
• Finnish: nousta (fi), kohota (fi)
• French: monter (fr)
• Galician: ascender (gl)
• German: steigen (de), aufsteigen (de)
• Greek: ανεβαίνω (el) (anevaíno)
• Hebrew: עלה (he) (alá)
• Hindi: चढ़ना (hi) (caṛhnā)
• Hungarian: felmegy (hu), felemelkedik (hu), felszáll (hu)
• Ido: acensar (io)
• Interlingua: ascender
• Irish: tóg, ^{(please verify)} ardaigh
• Italian: salire (it)
• Japanese: 登る (ja) (のぼる, noboru)
• Kashmiri: کھَسُن (ks) (khasun)
• Khmer: ឡើង (km) (laəng)
• Korean: 올라가다 (ko) (ollagada), 비상하다 (bisanghada)
• Lao: ຂຶ້ນ (lo) (khưn) (few context)
• Low German:

  German Low German: stiegen

• Old English: stīgan
• Persian: فرازیدن (fa) (farâzidan)
• Portuguese: ascender (pt), subir (pt)
• Romanian: înălța (ro), urca (ro)
• Russian: поднима́ться (ru) impf (podnimátʹsja), всходи́ть (ru) impf (vsxodítʹ), взбира́ться (ru) impf (vzbirátʹsja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: penjati (sh), popeti (sh)

• Slovak: stúpať
• Spanish: subir (es), ascender (es)
• Swahili: kupanda (sw)
• Swedish: stiga (sv) (upp), gå upp (sv)
• Thai: ขึ้น (th) (kʉ̂n) (few context)
• Tocharian B: ränk-
• Vietnamese: lên (vi)
• West Frisian: stige
• Zhuang: hwnj

to slope in an upward direction

• Esperanto: alsupri (eo)
• Finnish: nousta (fi)
• Irish: ardaigh
• Portuguese: subir (pt)
• Spanish: ascender (es), subir (es)

to go up

• Arabic: صَعِد (ṣaʕid)

  Egyptian Arabic: طلع (ṭiliʕ)

• Bulgarian: издигам се (izdigam se)
• Burmese: တက် (my) (tak)
• Dutch: opstijgen (nl)
• Egyptian: (jꜥr)
• Esperanto: alsupri (eo), supreniri
• Evenki: угиривми (ugiriwmi)
• Finnish: nousta (fi), mennä ylös
• Georgian: ასვლა (asvla)
• Gothic: 𐍃𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (steigan)
• Greek: ανεβαίνω (el) (anevaíno)

  Ancient: ἀναβαίνω (anabaínō)

• Hungarian: felmegy (hu), felemelkedik (hu), emelkedik (hu)
• Indonesian: naik (id)
• Irish: ardaigh
• Italian: salire (it)
• Javanese: munggah (jv), mundhak
• Lao: ຂຶ້ນ (lo) (khưn)
• Malay: naik (ms)
• Manchu: ᠸᡝᠰᡳᠮᠪᡳ (wesimbi)
• Marathi: वर जाणे (var jāṇe)
• Mongolian: авирах (mn) (avirax)
• Nahuatl: tlehco
• Old Javanese: nek, uṇḍa
• Portuguese: subir (pt)
• Quechua: wichay
• Romanian: urca (ro), sui (ro)
• Sindhi: چڙھڻ
• Spanish: subir (es), ascender (es)
• Swedish: stiga (sv)
• Tagalog: akyatin
• Thai: ขึ้น (th) (kʉ̂n)
• Tocharian B: ränk-
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ugaritic: 𐎓𐎍𐎊 (ʿly)
• Ukrainian: підніма́тися impf (pidnimátysja), підійма́тися impf (pidijmátysja), підня́тися pf (pidnjátysja)
• Vietnamese: lên (vi)

to succeed

• Finnish: nousta (fi)
• Greek: ανεβαίνω (el) (anevaíno)
• Italian: riuscire (it)
• Portuguese: ascender (pt), subir (pt)
• Spanish: ascender (es), subir (es)

See also

• climb

Further reading

• “ascend”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ascend”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Dances, dances, decans, descan

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

ascend

1. third-person singular present indicative of ascendre