ascendants

Noun

ascendant (plural ascendants)

1. (also, figuratively) The degree of the zodiac or point of the ecliptic which rises in an eastern direction above the horizon at a particular moment (especially the moment of a person's birth), which is supposed to have a commanding influence on a person's fortune and life; a horoscope.
   • [T]hey ſay that Jeſus in his natiuitie, had for his aſcendent, the ſigne of Virgo in her firſt face, as they terme it, […]1587, Philip of Mornay [i.e., Philippe de Mornay], “A Solution of the Obiections of the Heathen ageinst Iesus, the Sonne of God”, in Philip Sidney, Arthur Golding, transl., A Woorke Concerning the...

   Synonyms:

   significator of life

2. (broadly) Chiefly in in the ascendant: an act of ascending or rising.
   • Towards the end of the session of 1836, the hopes of the Conservative party were again in the ascendant.1844, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter V, in Coningsby; or, The New Generation. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, book IV, page 47
3. (broadly, figuratively) Synonym of ascendancy (“commanding influence; dominant control; superiority, supremacy”).
   • One man has the ascendant over another.

   Synonyms:

   ascendancy

4. (broadly, genealogy) An ancestor.
   • The Eſtate and Inheritance of a Perſon dying Inteſtate is, by Right of Devolution, according to the Civil-Lavv, given to ſuch as are ally'd to him ex Latere, commonly ſtiled Collaterals, if there be no Aſcendants or Deſcendants ſurviving at the time of his Death.1726, John Ayliffe, “Of Administration, and the Possession of Intestate Goods”, in Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani: Or, A Commentary, by Way of Supplement to the Canons and Constitutions of the...

   Antonyms:

   descendant

5. (broadly, obsolete) A person who ascends or goes up; specifically (usually followed by to), a person who ascends to a throne or assumes some other position of power.
   • Given his father’s ghastly demise, one would not expect such glee from the ascendant to his throne.
6. (broadly, obsolete) Something which is higher than the things around it; a peak, a summit; specifically (typography), synonym of ascender (“the portion of a lowercase letter that extends above the midline”).

See all 14 meanings of ascendant