The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Ascend \As*cend"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Ascended; p. pr. & vb.
   n. Ascending.] [L. ascendere; ad + scandere to climb,
   mount. See Scan.]
   1. To move upward; to mount; to go up; to rise; -- opposed to
      descend.
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            Higher yet that star ascends.         --Bowring.
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            I ascend unto my father and your father. --John xx.
                                                  17.
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   Note: Formerly used with up.
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               The smoke of it ascended up to heaven. --Addison.
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   2. To rise, in a figurative sense; to proceed from an
      inferior to a superior degree, from mean to noble objects,
      from particulars to generals, from modern to ancient
      times, from one note to another more acute, etc.; as, our
      inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity; to ascend to
      our first progenitor.
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   Syn: To rise; mount; climb; scale; soar; tower.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Ascending \As*cend"ing\, a.
   Rising; moving upward; as, an ascending kite. --
   As*cend"ing*ly, adv.
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   Ascending latitude (Astron.), the increasing latitude of a
      planet. --Ferguson.

   Ascending line (Geneol.), the line of relationship traced
      backward or through one's ancestors. One's father and
      mother, grandfather and grandmother, etc., are in the line
      direct ascending.

   Ascending node having, that node of the moon or a planet
      wherein it passes the ecliptic to proceed northward. It is
      also called the northern node. --Herschel.

   Ascending series. (Math.)
   (a) A series arranged according to the ascending powers of a
       quantity.
   (b) A series in which each term is greater than the
       preceding.

   Ascending signs, signs east of the meridian.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

ascending
    adj 1: moving or going or growing upward; "the ascending plane";
           "the ascending staircase"; "the ascending stems of
           chickweed" [ant: descending(a)]
    n 1: the act of changing location in an upward direction [syn:
         rise, ascent, ascension, ascending]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

95 Moby Thesaurus words for "ascending":
   Olympian, acclinate, acclivitous, aerial, airy, altitudinous,
   anabatic, ascendant, ascensional, ascensive, aspiring, axial, back,
   back-flowing, backward, climbing, colossal, descending, dominating,
   down-trending, downward, drifting, elevated, eminent, ethereal,
   exalted, flowing, fluent, flying, going, gyrational, gyratory,
   haughty, high, high-pitched, high-reaching, high-set, high-up,
   in the ascendant, leaping, lofty, monumental, mounting, outtopping,
   overlooking, overtopping, passing, plunging, progressive,
   prominent, rampant, rearing, reflowing, refluent, regressive,
   retrogressive, rising, rotary, rotational, rotatory, running,
   rushing, saltatory, scandent, scansorial, sideward, sinking,
   skyrocketing, soaring, spiraling, spiring, springing, steep,
   streaming, sublime, superlative, supernal, topless, toplofty,
   topping, towering, towery, up-trending, uparching, upcoming,
   upgoing, upgrade, uphill, uphillward, uplifted, upreared, uprising,
   upsloping, upward, upwith