Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Ascent \As*cent"\ [Formed like descent, as if from a F. ascente,
   fr. a verb ascendre, fr. L. ascendere. See {Ascend},
   {Descent}.]
   1. The act of rising; motion upward; rise; a mounting upward;
      as, he made a tedious ascent; the ascent of vapors from
      the earth.

            To him with swift ascent he up returned. --Milton.

   2. The way or means by which one ascends.

   3. An eminence, hill, or high place. --Addison.

   4. The degree of elevation of an object, or the angle it
      makes with a horizontal line; inclination; rising grade;
      as, a road has an ascent of five degrees.

Source : WordNet®

ascent
     n 1: an upward slope or grade (as in a road); "the car couldn't
          make it up the rise" [syn: {acclivity}, {rise}, {raise},
           {climb}, {upgrade}] [ant: {descent}]
     2: a movement upward; "they cheered the rise of the hot-air
        balloon" [syn: {rise}, {rising}, {ascension}] [ant: {fall}]
     3: the act of changing location in an upward direction [syn: {rise},
         {ascension}, {ascending}]