Definition of "ascendancy" []

• Superiority or decisive advantage; domination: "Germany only awaits trade revival to gain an immense mercantile ascendancy” ( Winston S. Churchill). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Benitez had been prepared to use him if necessary on Saturday, with the prospect of overturning Chelsea's 3-1 first leg lead seemingly more remote than catching United, who regained the title ascendancy in unconvincing fashion with their 2-1 win at Sunderland."
• "In a 1987 interview, he deplored what he called the ascendancy of "right-wing kooks (and) the ugly spirit (of Reagan's not so subtle message that) you should go get yours and run.""
• "Christianity was in ascendancy, and its power was secured when Constantine made it the official state religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century."