successor

noun

suc·​ces·​sor sək-ˈse-sər 

: one that follows

especially : one who succeeds to a throne, title, estate, or office

Examples of successor in a Sentence

The CEO's successor used to be the vice president here.

the successor to the throne

Recent Examples on the Web

As part of an agreement between Goldstein and government leaders, the museum’s founding director will no longer participate in the selection of his successor, leading up to Kanal’s opening. — Devorah Lauter, ARTnews.com, 21 Sep. 2026

In a personalist system, leadership prizes loyalty, China expert Minxin Pei told The Beijing Brief podcast, with the consequence that strong figures — potential successors — tend to get weeded out. — Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 21 Sep. 2026

His conservatives and their grand coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), would have to agree on his successor, no easy feat. — Sebastian Shukla, CNN Money, 21 Sep. 2026

Now here was Golesh again Saturday night, this time wearing Auburn orange and blue, trying to spoil the SEC debut of Napier’s successor. — Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 20 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English successour, from Anglo-French, from Latin successor, from succedere

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for successor

• aggressor
• assessor
• compressor
• confessor
• depressor
• hairdresser
• necessar
• oppressor
• possessor
• processor
• professor
• repressor

Kids Definition

successor

noun

suc·​ces·​sor sək-ˈses-ər 

: one that follows

especially : a person who succeeds to a throne, title, estate, or office

Legal Definition

successor

noun

suc·​ces·​sor sək-ˈse-sər 

: one that follows : one that succeeds another (as in a position, title, office, or estate)