Succeed

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -iːd

Alternative forms

• succede dated

Origin

From Old French succeder, from Latin succedere ("to go under, go from under, come under, approach, follow, take the place of, receive by succession, prosper, be successful")

Full definition of succeed

Verb

1. To follow in order; to come next after; hence, to take the place of.The king's eldest son succeeds his father on the throne.Autumn succeeds summer.
2. To obtain the object desired; to accomplish what is attempted or intended; to have a prosperous issue or termination; to be successful.
3. (obsolete, rare) To fall heir to; to inherit.So, if the issue of the elder son succeed before the younger, I am king.
4. To come after; to be subsequent or consequent to; to follow; to pursue.
• Sir Thomas BrowneDestructive effects ... succeeded the curse.
• 1919, William Somerset Maugham, ,Her arms were like legs of mutton, her breasts like giant cabbages; her face, broad and fleshy, gave you an impression of almost indecent nakedness, and vast chin succeeded to vast chin.
5. To support; to prosper; to promote.
• DrydenSucceed my wish and second my design.
6. To come in the place of another person, thing, or event; to come next in the usual, natural, or prescribed course of things; to follow; hence, to come next in the possession of anything; -- often with to.
1. To ascend the throne after the removal the death of the occupant.
7. To descend, as an estate or an heirloom, in the same family; to devolve.
8. To go under cover.

Antonyms

• (follow in order) precede
• (obtain the object desired; accomplish what is attempted or intended) fail, fall on one's face

Derived terms

Related terms