Meanings
- Becoming more popular, powerful, or relevant; on the rise.
Towards the end of the session of 1836, the hopes of the Conservative party were again in the ascendant.
1844, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter V, in Coningsby; or, The New Generation. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, book IV, page 472 more examples
[T]hose poets, […] by enriching the common language and by circulating from to town to town either in person or in their compositions, contributed to fan the flame of Pan-Hellenic patriotism at a time when there were few circumstances to co-operate with them, and when the causes tending to perpetuate isolation seemed in the ascendant.
1847, George Grote, “Lyric Poetry—The Seven Wise Men”, in History of Greece, volume IV, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, part II (Continuation of Historical Greece), page 136Methodius returned to Moravia, but Rostislav died and under his successor Svatopluk the German clergy were once more in the ascendant, having obtained the support of the new pope.
1984, S. C. Gardiner, Old Church Slavonic: An Eelementary Grammar, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Cite this entry
in the ascendant. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20ascendant
“in the ascendant.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20ascendant. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in the ascendant,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20ascendant.
Source: in the ascendant on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.