success

noun

suc·cess sək-ˈses

: degree or measure of succeeding

: favorable or desired outcome

also : the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence

: one that succeeds

obsolete : outcome, result

Example Sentences

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. See More

Recent Examples on the Web The natives, led by their chief Massasoit, signed a peace treaty with the settlers, taught them how to farm and fish, and paved their path to early success.

Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 24 Nov. 2022 Holding on to Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock’s seat in Georgia’s runoff next month could be crucial to Democrats’ success.

Los Angeles Times, 23 Nov. 2022 Bumper’s TikToks have gone viral in Germany, unbeknownst to him, and Pieter wants to manage his path to bona-fide success.

Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Nov. 2022 The iconic supermodel got her start in the industry over 30 years ago, and quickly rose through the ranks to international success.

Kevin Leblanc, ELLE, 21 Nov. 2022 In 2012, fresh off a breast cancer diagnosis, Tig Notaro performed a set of new material at the L.A. club Largo that went viral and catapulted her to mainstream success.

Keely Weiss, Harper's BAZAAR, 21 Nov. 2022 To the world, to people, to love, to success, to happiness.

Kyle Buchanan, New York Times, 21 Nov. 2022 As the goalkeeper, Johnson knows his role can make or break it for his team, which is why the support from his teammates is so crucial to the group's success.

Natasha Dye, Peoplemag, 18 Nov. 2022 Preety Bhandari, senior adviser in the global climate program and the finance center at the World Resources Institute think tank, said the E.U.'s ability to amass consensus around its proposal was key to the success of the conference.

Timothy Puko, Washington Post, 18 Nov. 2022 See More

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