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UKin the ascendant
/ɪnðɪ ɐsˈɛndənt/
/ɪnðɪ ɐsˈɛndənt/in the ascendant
[PHRASE]
What is the origin of the idiom "in the ascendant" and when to use it?
The phrase "in the ascendant" is derived from the astrological term "ascendant," which refers to the sign of the zodiac that is rising on the eastern horizon at the time of a person's birth. The phrase can also be used in a more figurative sense to describe something that is growing or developing.
Examples
1. The gold reached the Philippines on its way to Singapore from where it was to be shipped to Japan, but with the war in the Pacific escalating and the US Navy in the ascendant, it became impossible to move the gold.
2. The actions of the Khmer Rouge in northern and eastern Cambodia were temporarily ended by late 1972, and then in January 1973, Lon Nol declared a ceasefire in the hopes that the Civil War could be ended amicably, but it was not to be, Pol Pot and his militants continued their push westwards towards Phnom Penh, and it was clear by the spring of 1973, that they were in the ascendant.
3. This militant nationalism was being expressed at a time when the gradualist middle-class nationalism which Connolly was so critical of, was once again in the ascendant.
4. Trotsky’s star was in the ascendant in the first weeks of the new Soviet state, following his role in the October Revolution and the regard he was held in, by members of the Petrograd Soviet, in these early days of the Revolution, nobody other than Lenin was more powerful within the new regime, and his role in the months that followed, reflected this status as the second most powerful figure in the government of Soviet Russia.
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