1. Tending or directed upward
   "rooted and ascendant strength like that of foliage";
   - ascendent, ascensive
    
2. Most powerful, important or influential
   "the economically ascendant class";
   - ascendent, dominating

1. Position or state of being dominant or in control
   "that idea was in the ascendant";
   - ascendent
    
2. Someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)
   "She traced her family tree and discovered an ascendant who came to America in the 1700s";
   - ancestor, ascendent, antecedent, root

Derived forms: ascendants

See also: ascending, dominant

Type of: ascendance, ascendancy, ascendence, ascendency, control, dominance, flesh and blood, relation, relative

Encyclopedia: Ascendant