ascendancy

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The quality of being in the ascendant; dominant control, supremacy.

   “Spurs ended the half in the ascendancy and Van der Vaart was again inches away from giving them the lead when he met Bale's cross but his header flew wide.”

   “The Tory hard right is in the ascendancy, and a fascist street movement – led by convicted fraudster Tommy Robinson – represents a growing threat.”

2. (Ireland, abbreviation, alt-of, capitalized, countable, ellipsis, historical, sometimes, uncountable)Ellipsis of Protestant Ascendancy, a class of Protestant landowners and professionals that dominated political and social life in Ireland up to the early 20th century.

   “[W. B. Yeats] belonged not to the ascendancy class but to the protestant bourgeoisie.”

   “True, the “ascendancy” remained a crucial and significant governing class in Irish life, and would remain so for generations.”

3. (countable, uncountable)A quantitative attribute of an ecosystem, defined as a function of the ecosystem's trophic network, and intended to indicate its ability to prevail against disturbance by virtue of its combined organization and size.

   “Ascendency was found to be a useful indicator for the health assessment of marine benthic ecosystems over space and time.”