[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

ascend \ascend"\, v. i. imp.  p. p. ascended; p. pr.  vb.
   n. ascending. l. ascendere; ad + scandere to climb,
   mount. see scan.
   1. to move upward; to mount; to go up; to rise; -- opposed to
      descend.
      1913 webster

            higher yet that star ascends.         --bowring.
      1913 webster

            i ascend unto my father and your father. --john xx.
                                                  17.
      1913 webster

   note: formerly used with up.
         1913 webster

               the smoke of it ascended up to heaven. --addison.
         1913 webster

   2. to rise, in a figurative sense; to proceed from an
      inferior to a superior degree, from mean to noble objects,
      from particulars to generals, from modern to ancient
      times, from one note to another more acute, etc.; as, our
      inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity; to ascend to
      our first progenitor.
      1913 webster

   syn: to rise; mount; climb; scale; soar; tower.
        1913 webster
see also:
ascended ascending scan descend 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

ascending \ascend"ing\, a.
   rising; moving upward; as, an ascending kite. --
   ascend"ingly, adv.
   1913 webster

   ascending latitude astron., the increasing latitude of a
      planet. --ferguson.

   ascending line geneol., the line of relationship traced
      backward or through one's ancestors. one's father and
      mother, grandfather and grandmother, etc., are in the line
      direct ascending.

   ascending node having, that node of the moon or a planet
      wherein it passes the ecliptic to proceed northward. it is
      also called the northern node. --herschel.

   ascending series. math.
   a a series arranged according to the ascending powers of a
       quantity.
   b a series in which each term is greater than the
       preceding.

   ascending signs, signs east of the meridian.
      1913 webster
see also:
ascend"ingly ascending latitude ascending line ascending node northern node ascending series 
ascending signs 

[3] : WordNet (r) 2.0

ascending
     adj : moving or going or growing upward; "the ascending plane";
           "the ascending staircase"; "the ascending stems of
           chickweed" syn: ascendinga ant: descendinga
     n : the act of changing location in an upward direction syn: rise,
          ascent, ascension
see also:
ascendinga descendinga rise ascent ascension 

[4] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

95 moby thesaurus words for "ascending":
   olympian, acclinate, acclivitous, aerial, airy, altitudinous,
   anabatic, ascendant, ascensional, ascensive, aspiring, axial, back,
   back-flowing, backward, climbing, colossal, descending, dominating,
   down-trending, downward, drifting, elevated, eminent, ethereal,
   exalted, flowing, fluent, flying, going, gyrational, gyratory,
   haughty, high, high-pitched, high-reaching, high-set, high-up,
   in the ascendant, leaping, lofty, monumental, mounting, outtopping,
   overlooking, overtopping, passing, plunging, progressive,
   prominent, rampant, rearing, reflowing, refluent, regressive,
   retrogressive, rising, rotary, rotational, rotatory, running,
   rushing, saltatory, scandent, scansorial, sideward, sinking,
   skyrocketing, soaring, spiraling, spiring, springing, steep,
   streaming, sublime, superlative, supernal, topless, toplofty,
   topping, towering, towery, up-trending, uparching, upcoming,
   upgoing, upgrade, uphill, uphillward, uplifted, upreared, uprising,
   upsloping, upward, upwith

Ascending >> A Words
Ascending, definition of term: Ascending
ascending_pag1.html