as·cen·dan·cy

also as·cen·den·cy (ə-sĕn′dən-sē)

Superiority or decisive advantage; domination: "Germany only awaits trade revival to gain an immense mercantile ascendancy" (Winston S. Churchill).

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ascendancy

(əˈsɛndənsɪ) or

ascendency

;

ascendance

(əˈsɛndəns) or

ascendence

the condition of being dominant, esp through superior economic or political power

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

as•cend•an•cy

or as•cend•en•cy

(əˈsɛn dən si) also

as•cend′ance, as•cend′ence,

the state of being in the ascendant; governing or controlling influence; domination.

[1705–15]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

ascendancy - the state that exists when one person or group has power over another; "her apparent dominance of her husband was really her attempt to make him pay attention to her"

ascendance, ascendence, ascendency, dominance, control

condition, status - a state at a particular time; "a condition (or state) of disrepair"; "the current status of the arms negotiations"

ascendant, ascendent - position or state of being dominant or in control; "that idea was in the ascendant"

supremacy, domination, mastery - power to dominate or defeat; "mastery of the seas"

predominance, predomination, prepotency - the state of being predominant over others

dominion, rule - dominance or power through legal authority; "France held undisputed dominion over vast areas of Africa"; "the rule of Caesar"

regulation - the state of being controlled or governed

absolutism, despotism, tyranny - dominance through threat of punishment and violence

monopoly - exclusive control or possession of something; "They have no monopoly on intelligence"

ascendancy

ascendence

noun influence, power, control, rule, authority, command, reign, sovereignty, sway, dominance, domination, superiority, supremacy, mastery, dominion, upper hand, hegemony, prevalence, pre-eminence, predominance The extremists are gaining ascendancy.
weakness, inferiority, subordination, subjection, servility

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

ascendancy

noun

The condition or fact of being dominant:

ascendance, dominance, domination, paramountcy, predominance, preeminence, preponderance, preponderancy, prepotency, supremacy.

Translations

autorité commandement gouvernement règne tenue

ascendente influsso

nadvláda

ascendancy

[əˈsendənsɪ] N → ascendiente m, dominio m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

ascendancy

ascendency [əˈsɛndənsi] n → ascendant m
ascendancy over sb → l'ascendant sur qn

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

ascendancy

, ascendency

n → Vormachtstellung f; to gain/have (the) ascendancy over somebody → die Vorherrschaft über jdn gewinnen/haben; to gain (the) ascendancy over one’s fears → seine Ängste besiegen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

ascendancy

[əˈsɛndənsɪ] n → ascendente m

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

To these impulses must be added the complete ascendancy which his friend had long been accustomed to exercise over him--an ascendancy exerted in the beginning sorely at the expense of his friend's vices, and was in nine cases out of ten looked upon as his designing tempter when he was indeed nothing but his thoughtless, light-headed tool.

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When I thought how you might have misinterpreted it, and believed things" --hope was plainly gaining the ascendancy over misery in Brantain's round, guileless face--"Of course, I know it is nothing to you, but for my own sake I do want you to understand that Mr.

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Nietzsche, the supposed anarchist, here plainly disclaims all relationship whatever to anarchy, for he shows us that only by bearing the burdens of the existing law and submitting to it patiently, as the camel submits to being laden, does the free spirit acquire that ascendancy over tradition which enables him to meet and master the dragon "Thou shalt,"--the dragon with the values of a thousand years glittering on its scales.

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The more adequate, indeed, the federal powers may be rendered to the national defense, the less frequent will be those scenes of danger which might favor their ascendancy over the governments of the particular States.

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On the other hand, Cesare Borgia, called by the people Duke Valentino, acquired his state during the ascendancy of his father, and on its decline he lost it, notwithstanding that he had taken every measure and done all that ought to be done by a wise and able man to fix firmly his roots in the states which the arms and fortunes of others had bestowed on him.

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Even his coarse sensibilities appeared to feel the irresistible ascendancy of beauty and youth.

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To see this woman, so beautiful, fair as the brightest vision, to see her by turns overcome with grief and threatening; to resist at once the ascendancy of grief and beauty--it was too much for a visionary; it was too much for a brain weakened by the ardent dreams of an ecstatic faith; it was too much for a heart furrowed by the love of heaven that burns, by the hatred of men that devours.

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The baroness had looked forward to this marriage as a means of ridding her of a guardianship which, over a girl of Eugenie's character, could not fail to be rather a troublesome undertaking; for in the tacit relations which maintain the bond of family union, the mother, to maintain her ascendancy over her daughter, must never fail to be a model of wisdom and a type of perfection.

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Monsieur at times repented the ascendancy which he had permitted the Chevalier de Lorraine to acquire over him, and which exempted the latter from any observance of etiquette towards him.

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As the night deepened, so deepened to me the interest of the scene; for not only did the general character of the crowd materially alter (its gentler features retiring in the gradual withdrawal of the more orderly portion of the people, and its harsher ones coming out into bolder relief, as the late hour brought forth every species of infamy from its den,) but the rays of the gas-lamps, feeble at first in their struggle with the dying day, had now at length gained ascendancy, and threw over every thing a fitful and garish lustre.

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Her watch, for example, was a constant source of surprise to her, and at the age of sixty-five she was still amazed at the ascendancy which rules and reasons exerted over the lives of other people.

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"It was while we were in the ascendancy we ended up conceding the second, then there were things which happened which made it nigh-on impossible to get something out of it.

Boss is left feeling sore after side's heavy loss