success

suc·cess

noun \sək-ˈses\

Definition of SUCCESS

1

obsolete : outcome, result

2

a : degree or measure of succeeding b : favorable or desired outcome; also : the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence

3

: one that succeeds

Examples of SUCCESS

1. Success came easily to him.
2. She is country music's most recent success.
3. The growth of the tourism industry is one of the city's great successes.
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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

Origin of SUCCESS

Latin successus, from succedere (see succeed)

First Known Use: 1537

Related to SUCCESS

Synonyms: blockbuster, megahit, smash, hit, supernova, winner

Antonyms: bomb, bummer, bust, catastrophe, clinker, debacle (also débâcle), dud, failure, fiasco, flop, misfire, turkey, washout

Related Words: blue chip, blue chipper, corker, crackerjack (also crackajack), dandy, jim-dandy, pip, prizewinner; gem, jewel, treasure; marvel, natural, phenomenon, sensation, wonder; coup, triumph, victory

Near Antonyms: disappointment, fizzle, lemon, loser

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Rhymes with SUCCESS

abscess, access, address, aggress, assess, bench-press, caress, clothespress, coatdress, cold-press, compress, confess, cross-dress, CS, depress, de-stress, digress, distress, drill press, egress, excess, express, finesse, fluoresce, French press, full-dress, handpress, headdress, housedress, idlesse, impress, ingress, Meknes, much less, nightdress, noblesse, no less, obsess, oppress, outguess, possess, precess, prestress, princess, process, profess, progress, recess, redress, regress, re-press, repress, shirtdress, side-dress, SS, sundress, suppress, tendresse, top-dress, transgress, undress, unless, web press, winepress, word stress