ascendancy

noun3

1. •
   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. — 2011
2. •
   (Ireland, historical) 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. — 1975
3. •
   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. — 2009