success

noun

suc·​cess sək-ˈses 

1

a

: degree or measure of succeeding

promoted the new book with limited success

The success of wildlife sanctuaries depends on how people feel about them.

—Kathryn R. Satterfield

b

: favorable or desired outcome

At Cedar Creek, the men who raise endangered frogs have a success rate much higher than … counterparts in zoos …

—Beth Schwartzapfel

c

: the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence

Their success on the Olympic stage is a point of pride.

—Will Graves

2

: someone or something that succeeds

one of her many successes [=one of many things she has done successfully]

The play was an immediate success.

3

obsolete : outcome, result

Synonyms of success

• achievement
• accomplishment

Examples of success in a Sentence

An enormous popular and critical success, The Liars' Club was credited with (or blamed for) launching a new wave of memoir-writing. (Karr deflects this accusation: "I think memoir started with St. Augustine," she told Salon in 1997.) —Mollie Wilson O'Reilly, Commonweal, 23 Oct. 2009

Fred tries to keep up his end of the conversation, but without much success; he has never grown bulbs, cooked veal, seen a film by Fassbinder, etc. He feels provincial and out of it … —Alison Lurie, Foreign Affairs, 2006

Since I was interested in finding out about the successes as well as the failures disabled women experience in the world, I interviewed women who had some work experience, although it was often part-time work and sometimes interrupted. —Mary Grimley Mason, Working Against Odds, 2004

The necessaries of life for man in this climate may, accurately enough, be distributed under the several heads of Food, Shelter, Clothing, and Fuel; for not till we have secured these are we prepared to entertain the true problems of life with freedom and a prospect of success. —Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854

Success came easily to him.

She is country music's most recent success.

The growth of the tourism industry is one of the city's great successes.

Recent Examples on the Web

Both already serve as the ranking members of their respective committees, and Warren, in particular, has found success pursuing progressive policy priorities despite Republicans running Washington. — David Sivak, The Washington Examiner, 28 Oct. 2026

At the demonstration on Monday, Sosa shared her successes as a board member of the Street Vendor Project, which was instrumental in a sweeping reform package enacted in January to better protect vendors in NYC. — Zareen Syed, Chicago Tribune, 27 Oct. 2026

The dominant win pushed them one step closer to securing the franchise's first-ever World Series championship and finally paying off their years of recent regular season success. — Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2026

Many businesses say Americans are still spending despite inflationary pressures, though not every company has enjoyed the same success. — Catriona Marangi, CNBC, 27 Oct. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Latin successus, from succedere — see succeed

First Known Use

1537, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Phrases Containing success

• culture of success
• have any/much success
• meet with little success
• nothing succeeds like success
• on the altar of success
• roaring success
• secret to someone's success
• success story
• without success

Rhymes for success

• abbess
• abscess
• access
• address
• assess
• caress
• confess
• depress
• digress
• distress
• egress
• excess

Kids Definition

success

noun

suc·​cess sək-ˈses 

1

a

: degree or measure of succeeding

b

: satisfactory completion of something

c

: the gaining of wealth, respect, or fame

2

: a person or thing that succeeds