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Ascent vs Descent - What's the difference?

ascent | descent | Antonyms |

Descent is a antonym of ascent.



As nouns the difference between ascent and descent

is that ascent is the act of ascending. A motion upwards while descent is an instance of descending.

ascent

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act of ascending. A motion upwards.
  • He made a tedious ascent of Mont Blanc.
  • The way or means by which one ascends.
  • There is a difficult northern ascent from Malaucene of Mont Ventoux.
  • An eminence, hill, or high place.
  • The degree of elevation of an object, or the angle it makes with a horizontal line; inclination; rising grade.
  • The road has an ascent of 5 degrees.
  • (typography) The ascender height in a typeface.
  • An increase, for example in popularity or hierarchy
  • * 22 March 2012 , Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games [http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-hunger-games,71293/]
  • That such a safe adaptation could come of The Hunger Games speaks more to the trilogy’s commercial ascent than the book’s actual content, which is audacious and savvy in its dark calculations.
    (Webster 1913)

    Anagrams

    * * *

    descent

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An instance of descending
  • We climbed the mountain with difficulty, but the descent was easier.
  • * 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
  • The next one surrendered his bike, only for that, too, to give him a second flat as he started the descent .
  • A way down.
  • We had difficulty in finding the correct descent .
  • A sloping passage or incline.
  • The descent into the cavern was wet and slippery.
  • Lineage or hereditary derivation
  • Our guide was of Welsh descent .
  • A drop to a lower status or condition.
  • After that, the holiday went into a steep descent .

    Usage notes

    * Sometimes confused with (decent).

    Antonyms

    * (going down) ascent

    Anagrams

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