Word
ascendant
Phoneticsas·cen·dant
US/əˈsɛndənt/
UK/ɐsˈɛndənt/
Definition
n. the position of a planet or star when it is moving toward the east in the sky. This is the opposite of 'descending'.
n. the position of a celestial body when it is moving eastward in its orbit. Often used in the context of planetary motion to describe the transition from retrograde to direct motion.
Examples
“The planet reached its ascendant position last night.”
“Astronomers noted that the planet's ascendant phase began just before the summer solstice.”
“The ascendant of the moon marks a significant point in the lunar cycle, often associated with increased gravitational pull and tidal activity across the globe.”
Examples
simple
“The planet reached its ascendant position last night.”
contextual
“Astronomers noted that the planet's ascendant phase began just before the summer solstice.”
complex
“The ascendant of the moon marks a significant point in the lunar cycle, often associated with increased gravitational pull and tidal activity across the globe.”
Real-World Examples
“On the other, the rapidly ascendant homegrown outfit founded while its members were still at school, already making its fourth Proms appearance.” “But a case can be made that even if “invasion fiction” in its classic form faded away, many of its elements found new life in a newly ascendant genre: the spy novel.” Etymology
PIE word *h₂éd The adjective is derived from Late Middle English ascendent (“ascending, rising; increasing in quantity; (astronomy) rising above the horizon”) [and other forms], borrowed from Old French ascendant, from Latin ascendentem, the accusative singular of ascendēns (“ascending, rising”), the present participle of ascendō, adscendō (“to climb up, go up, move upwards; to rise; to spring up”), from ad- (prefix meaning ‘(up) to’) + scandō (“to ascend, climb, mount; to clamber”) (from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to climb, scale; to dart; to jump; to scan (poetry)”)). The English word is analysable as ascend (verb) + -ant (suffix forming adjectives from verbs with the sense of ‘doing [the verbal actions]’). The noun is probably derived from the adjective, though it is attested earlier than the latter.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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englishreference.com/q/ascendant