succeed

verb suc·ceed \ sək-ˈsēd \

Updated on: 13 May 2018

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

—

succeeder

noun

See succeed defined for English-language learners

See succeed defined for kids

Examples of succeed in a Sentence

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
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
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
You can succeed where others failed.
The plan just might succeed.
Their attempt seemed unlikely to succeed.
Both of them have ambitions to succeed the prime minister.
She will succeed him as chair of the committee.
The Queen died and was succeeded by James I.
James I succeeded to the throne upon the Queen's death in 1603.

Recent Examples of succeed from the Web

The council’s seven members, four Democrats and three Republicans, will have to vote on who succeeds Kamenetz.

— alison knezevich, baltimoresun.com, "How Baltimore County will fill Kevin Kamenetz's seat as executive after his death," 10 May 2018
If the work of a basketball coach is to best position his players to succeed, the after-timeout play (or ATO, in coaching parlance) is the literalization of that work.

— rob mahoney, SI.com, "The Simple Brilliance Behind Brad Stevens's After-Timeout Plays," 9 May 2018
Other steps include fundraising for the scholarship endowment, deciding which students would be eligible, setting up a data-sharing plan between schools and social service agencies and aligning services in schools to help students succeed.

— patrick o'donnell, cleveland.com, "What is Cleveland already doing to help kids learn? Say Yes to Education wants to know," 9 May 2018
As the contract expiration date neared earlier this year, Cohen then approached Vasant Narasimhan, who by then had succeeded Jimenez as Novartis chief executive, according to the employee.

— ed silverman, STAT, "Trump’s lawyer pitched himself as a fixer to Novartis and got paid $1.2 million," 9 May 2018
Recommendation systems control what information succeeds.

— jessi hempel, WIRED, "Want to Prove Your Business Is Fair? Audit Your Algorithm," 9 May 2018
His teaching career continued for over 50 years with a passion for educating, always striving to help his students succeed.

— hartford courant, courant.com, "Raymond H. LaBouliere," 9 May 2018
If the Queen of the Hill strategy succeeds, the House would take up three immigration bills that are already in circulation, along with whatever measure the speaker decided to put forth.

— New York Times, "House Republicans, Defying Leaders, Move to Force Immigration Votes," 9 May 2018
The plan was to build higher wages into a new deal in a contract that would succeed the one ending June 30.

— suzanne baker, Naperville Sun, "District 204 will cut custodial staff to pay competitive wages," 8 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'succeed.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology 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-

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

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