succumb

suc·cumb

intransitive verb \sə-ˈkəm\

Definition of SUCCUMB

1

: to yield to superior strength or force or overpowering appeal or desire <succumb to temptation>

2

: to be brought to an end (as death) by the effect of destructive or disruptive forces

Examples of SUCCUMB

1. They will pressure you, and you must try not to succumb.
2. <he finally succumbed and let his wife get rid of his dilapidated easy chair>
3. Lepanto occupies a curious military fault line between ancient and modern. It was fought with galleys almost identical to those that had clashed in this same gulf sixteen centuries before, when the ships of Antony and Cleopatra succumbed to those of Octavian at the Battle of Actium. —Colin Thubron, New York Times Book Review, 9 Apr. 2009
4. Last spring, the Knight Ridder chain succumbed to pressure from its largest private investor and sold off its entire lineup of 32 papers to the McClatchy Co. for more than $4 billion. —Eric Klinenberg, Mother Jones, March/April 2007
5. Yet after Paul died in 1978 and his successor John Paul I succumbed to a heart attack only 34 days into his papacy, Wojyla was so oblivious to his impending fate that he spent the first day of the new papal conclave nonchalantly browsing through a quarterly review of Marxist theory. —David Van Biema, Time, 11 Apr. 2005
6. Interviews with cadets, police officers and investigators trying to crack down on crime inside Mexico City's 80,000-officer force revealed that even the most earnest cops often succumb to the temptations that are both plentiful and low risk. —Alan Zarembo, Newsweek, 4 Dec. 2000

Origin of SUCCUMB

French & Latin; French succomber, from Latin succumbere, from sub- + -cumbere to lie down; akin to Latin cubare to lie

First Known Use: 1604

Related to SUCCUMB

Synonyms

blink, bow, budge, capitulate, concede, give in, knuckle under, quit, relent, submit, yield, surrender

Antonyms

resist

Related Words

acquiesce; defer

Near Antonyms

contend, fight, hold off; battle, breast, combat, confront, counter, defy, face, meet, object, oppose, repel; thwart, withstand

See Synonym Discussion at yield

Rhymes with SUCCUMB

alum, aplomb, bass drum, bay rum, beach plum, become, benumb, degum, dim sum, dumdum, dum-dum, eardrum, far from, green thumb, hail from, ho-hum, how come, humdrum, income, in sum, outcome, pond scum, side drum, snare drum, sour gum, steel drum, subgum, sweet gum, therefrom, to come, Tom Thumb, tom-tom, wherefrom, yum-yum