succeed
/səkˈsiːd/ verb
Forms succeeds succeeding succeeded succede
- verb (transitive) To follow something in sequence or time. “Autumn succeeds summer.”
- verb (transitive) To replace or supplant someone in order vis-à-vis an office, position, or title. “The king's eldest son succeeds his father on the throne.”
- verb (intransitive) To come after or follow; to be subsequent or consequent; (often with to).
- verb (intransitive) To come in the place of another person, thing, or event; to come next in the usual, natural, or prescribed course of things; to follow; hence, to come next in the possession of anything; (often with to). “Following the death of his mother, he succeeded to the throne.”
- verb (intransitive) To ascend the throne after the removal or death of the occupant. “Princess Buttercup succeeded to the throne as queen after King Willoughby died.”
- verb (intransitive) To prevail in obtaining an intended objective or accomplishment; to prosper as a result or conclusion of a particular effort. “The persecution of any righteous practice has never succeeded in the face of history; in fact, it can expedite the collapse of the persecutory regime.”
- verb (intransitive) To prosper or attain success and beneficial results in general. “voted most likely to succeed”
- verb (intransitive, dated) To turn out, fare, do (well or ill).
Synonyms
take the place of come after supersede do well flourish ensue follow follow on win come through bring home the bacon deliver the goods
Antonyms
Etymology
From Old French succeder, from Latin succedere (“to go under, go from under, come under, approach, follow, take the place of, receive by succession, prosper, be successful”).
Partly displaced English speed, of which the original sense “to succeed” only survives in a few fossilized expressions such as Godspeed.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To follow in order; to come next after; hence, to take the place of; as, the king's eldest son succeeds his father on the throne; autumn succeeds summer.
- verb To fall heir to; to inherit. [Obs. & R.] Shak.
- verb To come in the place of another person, thing, or event; to come next in the usual, natural, or prescribed course of things; to follow; hence, to come next in the possession of anything; --often with to. If the father left only daughters, they equally succeeded to him in copartnership. Sir M. Hale.
- verb Specifically: To ascend the throne after the removal the death of the occupant.
Etymology [L. succedere, successum; sub under + cedere to go, to go along, approach, follow, succeed: cf. F. succéder. See Cede, and cf. Success.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “succeed”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details