Ascent, Assent; Descent, Dissent, Accent
“Humanity peaks at times when societies rise from decadence to a highly sophisticated state of civilization. Eventually, however, most cultures allow decay to set in. Rather than rooting out the negative influences, the human institutions adjust to the downward movement. The decline continues and accelerates until it reaches a low ebb at which point it begins the long, slow ascent once more.” –Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! By Robert H. Schuller
Ascent is a noun: the act of ascending that is climbing, scaling up, going up to reach some predetermined destination; upward path of a slope.
The ascent of Mount Everest is still challenging though few have scaled the Himalayan peak.
The ascent to Tirumala Hills is made possibly for many pilgrims because there is paved pathway with a cemented roof during the most part of the journey. But in climbing the first hills could be slightly difficult because the first of the ascent is very steep.
The opposite of ascent is descent: descent means coming or going down, slope.
Assent means formal agreement, formal approval for something between two people or families, organizations or countries. In some cases or instances the assent of an individual or an organization is a must: essential.
The families of both the boy and the girl have to give their assent in the arranged marriages.
The assent of people or the majority of the voters is a must for a political party to rule a state or the country.
The Bills passed in the Parliament should get the assent from the President of India.
Assent also functions as verb: to express agreement, their consent.
My father never assented to my wish to become a farmer.
Descent is a noun: downward movement, coming down a slope (After the ascent the airplane has to descent to land. The engines of vehicles usually descent by consuming less fuel but it may be difficult to manoeuvre).
Descent also means one’s origins, one’s ancestry (Rahul Gandhi’s descent is also Italian ie his mother is an Italian and his father is an India. Indians are of two descents: Aryan and Dravidian).
Figuratively descent also refers to attack (the Chinese army often descents into Indian territory. The thieves descent into the house was unexpected because the house was completely secured), unexpected visit or inconvenient visitation (The cops’ descent into the office was a shock to the CEO).
Dissent as a noun means having opinions or ideas that are different from others (The political parties may workers who may dissent on certain policy matters), as a verb it means to expressed opinions or ideas that are different or contrary to official or stated policies, religious teachings, or morals of the society; disagreement with someone or something. Liberals often dissent against the moral policing of the religious fundamentalists.
Dissenter is a person who dissents; and dissenting is an adjective.
The dissenting voices should be heard in democratic societies.
