ascendancy

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1. The preferred spellings are -ancy, -ant, although ascendency and ascendent are still sometimes found in print.

2. Have ascendancy over and be in the ascendant are the normal phrases, and refer to a position of power achieved, not of power being gained.

Even when the Gestapo system was in the ascendant over much of Europe, ...Churchill had faith that it would one day be possible to defeat Nazism altogether—BBC History, 2004.

Ascendant here means 'supreme' or 'dominant', not 'ascending'.

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noun

The condition or fact of being dominant: ascendance, dominance, domination, paramountcy, predominance, preeminence, preponderance, preponderancy, prepotency, supremacy. See over/under.

ascendancy, a term generally used to refer to the Protestant upper classes of Ireland in the 18th cent. and later. The defeat of the Jacobites [see Williamite War] in 1689-91 left local political power entirely in the hands of a Protestant landed class. Their dominance was based partly on a near-monopoly of landed wealth, partly on the exclusion from full citizenship of Catholics and Presbyterians. Landlord control was dented when Daniel O'Connell and others began to mobilize the Catholic masses from the 1820s. The decades after the Act of Union had seen a steady widening of Catholic access to the civil service, judiciary, and other former Protestant preserves. Land-ownership itself, for more than two centuries the key to political and social authority, was dismantled by a series of measures, notably the Wyndham Land Act of 1903. The term ‘Protestant ascendancy’ first came into use in the 1780s to define the constitutional arrangements that conservatives felt were being jeopardized by recent moves to allow greater political and religious freedom to Catholics [see Catholic Emancipation]. Its use was popularized during the bitter debates that accompanied the passage of the Relief Acts of 1792 and 1793.

IN BRIEF: Dominance; strong influence or control.

The president used ascendancy to sway the voters.

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For a list of words related to ascendancy, see:

• Party Functions and Political Practices - ascendancy: assuming position of increased power and dominance

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See words rhyming with "ascendancy."

Dansk (Danish)
n. - herredømme, magt, overlegenhed

Nederlands (Dutch)
overwicht, voorrang

Français (French)
n. - suprématie, prédominance, prépondérance, supériorité, ascendant, empire (sur), montée, ascension

Deutsch (German)
n. - Vorherrschaft, Übergewicht

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κυριαρχία, ηγεμονία, κυριαρχική επιρροή, υπεροχή, (αστρον.) επιτολή

Italiano (Italian)
ascendenza, supremazia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - domínio (m), poder (m), supremacia (f), ascendência (f)

Русский (Russian)
власть, господство, влияние

Español (Spanish)
n. - ascendiente, ascendencia

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - överlägsenhet, inflytande

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
优势, 优越, 权势

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 優勢, 優越, 權勢

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 우월, 권세

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 日の出の勢い, 優勢, 優位, 支配力

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) سطوه, حكم, هيمنه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮עליונות, שליטה‬

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