Definition of "ascending" []

• Moving, going, or growing upward: an ascending minor scale. (adjective)
• Moving or progressing toward a higher level or degree: an ascending order of difficulty. (adjective)
• Botany Growing or directing upward from a curved or slanted base, as certain plant stems. (adjective)

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.

• "On the table a column of steam was ascending from the big mixing-pan."
• "So, in ascending order, for the third prize I chose Night Passage, The Thimbles, number 53, especially pleased and heartened to find that in your midst there appears to be a conceptual artist hard at work."
• "My list in ascending order of my happiness when they bit it *."