From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
ascent
n 1: an upward slope or grade (as in a road); "the car couldn't
make it up the rise" [syn: ascent, acclivity, rise,
raise, climb, upgrade] [ant: declension,
declination, decline, declivity, descent,
downslope, fall]
2: a movement upward; "they cheered the rise of the hot-air
balloon" [syn: rise, rising, ascent, ascension] [ant:
fall]
3: the act of changing location in an upward direction [syn:
rise, ascent, ascension, ascending]