ascender

From ascend +‎ -er.

• Rhymes: -ɛndə(ɹ)

ascender (plural ascenders)

1. A person or thing that ascends.

   Coordinate term: descender

2. (typography, graphology) The portion of a lowercase letter that extends above the midline.

   Coordinate term: descender

   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 1, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

     Catherine had a paperback called Graphology: The Mind in the Hand, which gave her all sorts of warnings about people’s tendencies and repressions (“Artist or Madman?” “Pet or Brute?”). “It's those enormous ascenders, darling,” she said: “I see a lot of ego.”

3. (typography, uncommon) A lowercase letter that has such a portion, such as d or h.

   Coordinate term: descender

4. (climbing) a mechanical device used for ascending on a rope; ascendeur.

• cedranes, reascend

ascender

1. to ascend, go up

Learned borrowing from Latin ascendere.

• Homophone: acender (chiefly Brazil)
• Hyphenation: as‧cen‧der

ascender (first-person singular present ascendo, first-person singular preterite ascendi, past participle ascendido)

1. (intransitive) to ascend; to rise

   Synonyms: subir, alçar

• ascensão
• descender

Borrowed from Latin ascendere.

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /asθenˈdeɾ/ [as.θẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /asenˈdeɾ/ [a.sẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]
• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: as‧cen‧der

ascender (first-person singular present asciendo, first-person singular preterite ascendí, past participle ascendido)

1. to ascend, to mount, to climb

   Antonym: descender

2. (business) to advance
3. (of status) to rise

• “ascender”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28