succeed
//səkˈsiːd//
Forms
- present (v1)
- succeed
- past (v2)
- succeeded
- past participle (v3)
- succeeded
- present participle
- succeeding
- 3rd person singular
- succeeds
Definitions
1.To follow something in sequence or time.
- Destructive effects […] succeeded the curse.
2.To replace or supplant someone in order vis-à-vis an office, position, or title.
- The king's eldest son succeeds his father on the throne.
- After a contentious election, Jones succeeded Smith as president of the republic.
3.To come after or follow; to be subsequent or consequent; (often with to).
- 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.
4.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).
- Following the death of his mother, he succeeded to the throne.
- If he succeeded in February, 670, this would be his sixteenth year.
- Princess Buttercup succeeded to the throne as queen after King Willoughby died.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2229
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
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”).