ascent

UK/əˈsɛnt/US/əˈsɛnt/

nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #11,791 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: ascents

An ascent is the climb up. A steep ascent, the first ascent, begin the ascent.

In mountaineering a first ascent is a recorded achievement and the phrase carries real weight. Note the spelling: ascent with an s and no double letters, and it is not the same word as assent, which means agreement.

Definitions of ascent

1nounascentThe climb up.B2+
“The ascent to the summit took six hours, but the walk down took only two.”

ascent is a climb.

Where it comes from

Formed from ascend on the model of descend and descent, from Latin ascendere, to climb up.

Formed from ascend on the model of descend/descent.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Camping & Outdoors

Practise this word

ascent in the wild

Climbers usually begin their ascent from base camps above 5,000 m.
Mount Everest
Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary made the first documented ascent of Everest in 1953, using the Southeast Ridge route.
Mount Everest
The six landed descent stages remain at their landing sites; their corresponding ascent stages crashed into the Moon following use.
Apollo Lunar Module
Lhotse's Western Face, recessed behind the head of the Khumbu Glacier in the Western Cwm, plays an integral part in the standard routes of ascent for both peaks.
Lhotse
As the sport of climbing developed, additional types of ascent became notable and chronicled in guidebooks and climbing journals.
First ascent

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.

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