ascent Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun an upward slope or grade (as in a road)
    acclivity; upgrade; raise; rise; climb.
    • the car couldn't make it up the rise
  2. noun a movement upward
    ascension; rise; rising.
    • they cheered the rise of the hot-air balloon
  3. noun the act of changing location in an upward direction
    ascension; rise; ascending.

WordNet

As*cent"
Etymology
Formed like descent, as if from a F. ascente, fr. a verb ascendre, fr. L. ascendere. See Ascend, Descent.
Definitions
  1. The act of rising; motion upward; rise; a mounting upward; as, he made a tedious ascent; the ascent of vapors from the earth.
    To him with swift ascent he up returned. Milton.
  2. The way or means by which one ascends.
  3. An eminence, hill, or high place. Addison.
  4. The degree of elevation of an object, or the angle it makes with a horizontal line; inclination; rising grade; as, a road has an ascent of five degrees.

Webster 1913