different between ascendant vs ascendancy

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French ascendant, from Latin ascendens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??s?nd?nt/

Adjective

ascendant (comparative more ascendant, superlative most ascendant)

1. Rising, moving upward.
2. Surpassing or controlling.

   • An ascendant spirit above him.

   • 1848, John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy

     The ascendant community obtained a surplus of wealth.

Translations

Noun

ascendant (plural ascendants)

1. Being in control; superiority, or commanding influence; ascendency.

   One man has the ascendant over another.

   • 1769, William Robertson, History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V:

     Chievres had acquired over the mind of the young monarch the ascendant not only of a tutor, but of a parent.

2. An ancestor (antonym of descendant)

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ayliffe to this entry?)

3. (usu. followed by to) A royal heir assuming (a place of power)

4. Ascent; height; elevation.
5. (astrology) The horoscope, or that degree of the ecliptic which rises above the horizon at the moment of one's birth; supposed to have a commanding influence on a person's life and fortune.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Burke to this entry?)

Translations

Related terms

• ascend
• ascent
• ascendance
• ascendancy/ascendency
• ascending
• ascender

Anagrams

• adnascent

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ascendens, ascendentem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.s??.d??/

Verb

ascendant

1. present participle of ascendre

Adjective

ascendant (feminine singular ascendante, masculine plural ascendants, feminine plural ascendantes)

1. ascendant

Derived terms

• compatibilité ascendante

Noun

ascendant m (plural ascendants)

1. (astrology) ascendant
2. supremacy, ascendancy

3. (genealogy) ancestor, forefather, progenitor

Further reading

• “ascendant” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Verb

ascendant

1. third-person plural present active subjunctive of ascend?

English

Alternative forms

• ascendency

Etymology

ascend +? -ancy or ascendant +? -cy

Noun

ascendancy (countable and uncountable, plural ascendancies)

1. The process or period of one's ascent

2. Supremacy; dominant control; the quality of being in the ascendant

   Synonym: superiority
3. (historical, Ireland) A class of Protestant landowners and professionals that dominated political and social life in Ireland up to the early 20th century
   • 1975, Terry Eagleton, New Left Review:

     [W. B. Yeats] belonged not to the ascendancy class but to the protestant bourgeoisie.

Derived terms

• ascendance

Related terms

• ascendant

Translations

Anagrams

• candy canes