different between significant vs ascendant

English

Etymology

From Latin significans, present participle of significare, from signum (“sign”) + ficare (“do, make”), variant of facere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s???n?.f?.k?nt/

• (US, also) IPA^(key): /s???n?.f?.??nt/

Adjective

significant (comparative more significant, superlative most significant)

1. Signifying something; carrying meaning.

   Synonym: meaningful

   • It was well said of Plotinus, that the stars were significant, but not efficient.
2. Having a covert or hidden meaning.
3. Having a noticeable or major effect.

   Synonym: notable
4. Reasonably large in number or amount.
5. (statistics) Having a low probability of occurring by chance (for example, having high correlation and thus likely to be related).

Usage notes

• This word may be ambiguous in some situations. In formal writing, care should be taken with comments such as "the difference is significant," because it is not clear without contextual clues whether significant modifies the fact that there is a difference ("notable"), or the difference itself ("large in number or amount"). In some such situations, large and other synonyms may be used in its place.

Synonyms

• important

Antonyms

• insignificant
• ignorable
• negligible
• slight

Related terms

• significance
• significand
• significant other
• signify

Translations

Noun

significant (plural significants)

1. That which has significance; a sign; a token; a symbol.
   • a. 1850, William Wordsworth, The Egyptian Maid

     And in my glass significants there are

References

significant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Catalan

Verb

significant

1. present participle of significar

Latin

Verb

significant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of signific?

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?