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Scent vs Ascent - What's the difference?

scent | ascent |

As nouns the difference between scent and ascent

is that scent is a distinctive odour or smell while ascent is the act of ascending. A motion upwards.

As a verb scent

is to detect the scent of.

scent

English

Alternative forms

* (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A distinctive odour or smell.
    • the scent of flowers
    the scent of a skunk
  • An odour left by an animal that may be used for tracing.
    • The dogs lost the scent .
  • The sense of smell.
    • I believe the bloodhound has the best scent of all dogs.
  • A perfume.
  • (figuratively) Any trail or trace that can be followed to find something or someone.

    • Usage notes

    * Almost always applied to agreeable odors (fragrances ).

    Synonyms

    * fragrance * perfume * aroma * odor * smell

    Derived terms

    * scentless

    Verb

  • to detect the scent of
    • The hounds scented the fox in the woods.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Methinks I scent the morning air.
  • to impart an odour to
    • Scent the air with burning sage before you begin your meditation.
  • * Dryden
    • Balm from a silver box distilled around, / Shall all bedew the roots, and scent the sacred ground.
  • To have a smell.
  • * Holland
    • Thunderbolts do scent strongly of brimstone.
  • To hunt animals by means of the sense of smell.

    • Anagrams

    * cents

    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

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