Ascension

How to spell ascension

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce ascension

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ascension mean?

1. nounThe act of rising, climbing, or moving to a higher position or rank.

Ascension in a sentence

• The balloon's slow ascension gave the passengers a clear view of the valley.

• Her rapid ascension to chief executive surprised the whole industry.

Where does ascension come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb ascendere, meaning 'to climb up' or 'to mount', which was built from the prefix ad- (here reduced to a-, meaning 'to' or 'up') and the verb scandere, meaning 'to climb'. The Latin noun ascensio, formed from the same root, literally described the action of going upward. English took the word in through Old French around the 1300s, and one of its earliest and most prominent uses was religious, naming the rising of Christ into heaven, an event still marked on Ascension Day. The same scandere root climbs through a whole family of English words, including 'ascend', 'descend', 'scale', and even 'scan'. Remembering that buried Latin scandere helps with the spelling: the middle is -scens-, giving the soft 's' sound before the -ion, not a stray 'c' or 't'.

How the word is built

• a- (from Latin ad-: to, up)
• scens (from scandere: to climb)
• -ion (noun-forming suffix)