succeed

suc·ceed

verb \sək-ˈsēd\

Definition of SUCCEED

intransitive verb

1

a : to come next after another in office or position or in possession of an estate; especially : to inherit sovereignty, rank, or title

b : to follow after another in order

2

a : to turn out well

b : to attain a desired object or end <students who succeed in college>

3

obsolete : to pass to a person by inheritance

transitive verb

1

: to follow in sequence and especially immediately

2

: to come after as heir or successor

— suc·ceed·er noun

Examples of SUCCEED

1. You can succeed where others failed.
2. The plan just might succeed.
3. Their attempt seemed unlikely to succeed.
4. Both of them have ambitions to succeed the prime minister.
5. She will succeed him as chair of the committee.
6. The Queen died and was succeeded by James I.
7. James I succeeded to the throne upon the Queen's death in 1603.
8. Ghosh's remarkable detective work succeeds in rescuing an entire group of marginalized figures from British and South Asian amnesia, if not outright denial. —Maya Jasanoff, New York Review of Books, 18 Dec. 2008
9. Enter Gordon Brown. Journalistic legend has it that, over dinner in a trendy London restaurant as long ago as 1994, the two of them settled that Blair would lead the Labour party for an unspecified length of time and Brown would then succeed him. —David Pryce-Jones, National Review, 28 May 2007
10. Maguire, a freelance writer who specializes in culture and technology and recently published a book about spelling bees, paints a vivid portrait of Sullivan as a tough-minded micromanager who tightly controlled every aspect of his show, even telling Ella Fitzgerald what to sing. Behind the avuncular, slightly befuddled façade viewers knew, he writes, was a man consumed by ambition and driven to succeed at any cost. —Peter Keepnews, New York Times Book Review, 11 June 2006

Origin of SUCCEED

Middle English succeden, from Anglo-French succeeder, from Latin succedere to go up, follow after, succeed, from sub- near + cedere to go — more at sub-

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to SUCCEED

Synonyms

click, come off, deliver, go, go over, pan out, work out, bear fruit, catch fire, deliver the goods, do the trick, go like clockwork, come into one's own, cut it, cut the mustard, get ahead, get somewhere, get there, hack it, hit it big, make good, make it, make one's mark, make the grade

Antonyms

bomb, collapse, fail, flop, flunk, fold, founder, miss, strike out, wash out

Related Words

catch on; flourish, prosper, thrive; cook, percolate

Near Antonyms

languish; flounder, struggle; decline, sink, skid, slip, slump, wane; crash, crater, crumble, flame out; choke, crack up, miscarry, misfire; fall down, go under; implode, self-destruct

See Synonym Discussion at follow