ascendant

/əˈsɛndənt/

Other forms: ascendants

Something that's ascendant is increasing its power or status. An ascendant political party is one that captures more and more seats in Congress with every election.

Things are ascendant when they're growing in importance. It's common to use this adjective to describe people or groups that have already achieved a lot of power and whose influence continues to grow. Ascendant was originally a term in astronomy, although today it's used in astrology to mean the sign of the Zodiac rising in the east when someone's born. The Latin root is ascendere, "to go up," but also figuratively "to rise," or "to reach."

Definitions of ascendant

1. adjective

   tending or directed upward
   “"rooted and ascendant strength like that of foliage"- John Ruskin”

   synonyms: ascendent, ascensive

   ascending

   moving or going or growing upward
2. adjective

   most powerful or important or influential
   “the economically ascendant class”

   synonyms: ascendent, dominating

   dominant

   exercising influence or control
3. noun

   position or state of being dominant or in control
   “that idea was in the ascendant”

   synonyms: ascendent

   type of:

   ascendance, ascendancy, ascendence, ascendency, control, dominance

   the state that exists when one person or group has power over another
4. noun

   someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)
   synonyms: ancestor, antecedent, ascendent, root

   types:

   ancestress

   a woman ancestor

   forbear, forebear

   a person from whom you are descended

   father, forefather, sire

   the founder of a family

   foremother

   a woman ancestor

   primogenitor, progenitor

   an ancestor in the direct line

   genitor

   a natural father or mother

   grandparent

   a parent of your father or mother

   great grandparent

   a parent of your grandparent

   patriarch

   any of the early biblical characters regarded as fathers of the human race

   type of:

   relation, relative

   a person related by blood or marriage