ascendant vs ancestress

ascendant and ancestress both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
ascendant	Yes	Yes	No	No
ancestress	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, ancestress is a hyponym of ascendant; that is, ancestress is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than ascendant:

ascendant: someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)
ancestress: a woman ancestor

Other hyponyms of ascendant include forbear, forebear, father, forefather, sire, foremother, primogenitor, progenitor.

ascendant (noun)	ancestress (noun)
someone from whom you are descended (but usually more remote than a grandparent)	a woman ancestor
position or state of being dominant or in control

ascendant (adjective)	ancestress (adjective)
tending or directed upward
most powerful or important or influential