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

Future success will require Space42 to turn its technological capabilities, capital commitments and international partnerships into commercially viable services that can compete across markets at scale and at a sustainable cost. — Melissa Hancock, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2026

Officials declared success an hour later when the spacecraft separated as planned from the rocket's upper stage. — Arkansas Online, 21 Oct. 2026

Amid growing anxiety that AI could replace people in many jobs, leaders at Anthropic and SpaceX suggested their companies were ready to set aside billions of the success their technology is generating for children and affected people. — Ella Chakarian, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2026

Building on a legacy The mission to the Martian moons builds on Japan’s success in leading the Hayabusa and Hayabusa 2 missions, the world’s first two spacecraft to bring back pristine specimens from asteroids. — Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 20 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