ascend

Etymology

From Middle English ascenden, borrowed from Old French ascendre, from Latin ascendō (“to go up, climb up to”), from ad (“to”) + scandō (“to climb”); see scan. Unrelated to accede other than common ad prefix.

verb

  1. (intransitive) To move upward, to fly, to soar.
    He ascended to heaven upon a cloud.
  2. (intransitive) To slope in an upward direction.
  3. (transitive) To go up.
    You ascend the stairs and take a right.
  4. (transitive, intransitive) To succeed a ruler on (the throne).
    She ascended the throne when her mother abdicated.
    She ascended to the throne when her mother abdicated.
  5. (intransitive, figurative) To rise; to become higher, more noble, etc.
  6. To trace, search or go backwards temporally (e.g., through records, genealogies, routes, etc.).
    Our inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity.
  7. (transitive, music) To become higher in pitch.
  8. (incel slang) To lose one's virginity, especially of a man through unpaid and consensual sexual intercourse with a woman.

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