ascent

The act of moving upward or reaching a higher position.

• The balloon began its ascent.
• The plane's steep ascent made me nervous.
• His ascent to power took only a few years.

How to use it: ascent to something (Her ascent to the top of the company was rapid.)

Similar words: rise, climb

Opposites: descent

Common phrases: rapid ascent, begin an ascent, ascent to power

A journey on foot up a mountain or hill to its top.

• The ascent took three hours.
• We began our ascent of the hill at dawn.
• They made the first winter ascent of that peak.

How to use it: an ascent of something (They completed an ascent of the mountain in one day.)

Similar words: climb

Opposites: descent

Common phrases: mountain ascent, first ascent, ascent of something

How steeply a road or other surface slopes upward.

• The road has a gentle ascent.
• Engineers measured the railway's angle of ascent.
• The path's ascent reaches ten degrees near the summit.

Similar words: gradient, inclination, steepness

Common phrases: angle of ascent, degree of ascent