ascend. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

ascend

SYLLABICATION:	as·cend
PRONUNCIATION:	-snd
VERB:	Inflected forms: as·cend·ed, as·cend·ing, as·cends
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To go or move upward; rise. See synonyms at rise. 2. To slope upward. 3. To rise from a lower level or station; advance: ascended from poverty to great wealth; ascend to the throne. 4. To go back in time or upward in genealogical succession.
TRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To move upward upon or along; climb: ascended the mountain. 2. To succeed to; occupy: ascended the throne upon the death of her father.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English ascenden, from Old French ascendre, from Latin ascendere : ad-, ad- + scandere, to climb; see skand- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	as·cenda·ble, as·cendi·ble —ADJECTIVE


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.