Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To come next in time or order.
- intransitive verb To replace another in office or position: synonym: follow.
- intransitive verb To accomplish something desired or intended.
- intransitive verb Obsolete To pass to a person by way of inheritance.
- intransitive verb To come after (something) in time or order; follow.
- intransitive verb To come after and take the place of.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To follow; come after; be subsequent or consequent to.
- To take the place of; be heir or successor to.
- To fall heir to; inherit.
- To prosper; give success to.
- To follow; be subsequent; come after; come next; come in the place of another or of that which has preceded.
- To become heir; take the place of one who has died; specifically, to ascend a throne after the removal or death of the occupant.
- To come down by order of succession; descend; devolve.
- To arrive at a happy issue; be successful in any endeavor; meet with success; obtain the object desired; accomplish what is attempted or intended.
- To terminate according to desire; turn out successfully; have the desired result: as, his plan succeeded admirably.
- To descend.
- To approach by following.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To follow in order; to come next after; hence, to take the place of.
- transitive verb Obs. & R. To fall heir to; to inherit.
- transitive verb To come after; to be subsequent or consequent to; to follow; to pursue.
- transitive verb rare To support; to prosper; to promote.
- intransitive verb 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 . - intransitive verb To ascend the throne after the removal the death of the occupant.
- intransitive verb To descend, as an estate or an heirloom, in the same family; to devolve.
- intransitive verb To obtain the object desired; to accomplish what is attempted or intended; to have a prosperous issue or termination; to be successful.
- intransitive verb A latinism. Obs. To go under cover.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
follow in order; to come next after; hence, to take the place of. - verb To
obtain the object desired; toaccomplish what is attempted or intended; to have aprosperous issue ortermination ; to be successful. - verb To fall
heir to; toinherit . - verb To come after; to be
subsequent orconsequent to; tofollow ; topursue . - verb To
support ; toprosper ; topromote . - verb To come in the place of another person, thing, or event; to come
next in the usual, natural, orprescribed course of things; to follow; hence, to come next in the possession of anything; -- often with to. - verb Specifically: To ascend the throne after the removal the death of the occupant.
- verb To
descend , as an estate or anheirloom , in the same family; todevolve . - verb To go
under cover .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb attain success or reach a desired goal
- verb be the successor (of)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word succeed.
Examples
-
Test scores seem like a bad proxy; people score well and don’t succeed at life; and people score poorly and ’succeed’.
More Evidence on the (Lack of) Impact of School Choice - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com 2007
-
Perhaps one way for a magazine or newspaper to succeed is to build a tribe around a unique value proposition that can only be accessed if you read a hard copy.
On the possible revival of publishing « One Size Fits One 2009
-
In a knowledge economy, many leaders believe the best way to succeed is to have the best people -- and that the best way to get them is to hire them away from competitors.
Paying top dollar to snag a star performer? Big mistake Jena McGregor 2010
-
The safest way to succeed is to repeat what others are saying.
Question?... 2009
-
Another way to succeed is to educate people about what the Bill of Rights said and to instill values that lead most to the most libertarian readings of those rights, and do one's very best to marginalize those voices that look to erode civil liberties accretionally.
Obama Administration Looks To Reinstate Assault-Weapons Ban 2009
-
“The only way to succeed is to be completely transparent”.
How Gary Vaynerchuk got a 10 book deal without asking for it - by Joanna Penn | The Creative Penn 2009
-
The safest way to succeed is to repeat what others are saying.
Question?... 2009
-
Seems that a lot of you out there have realized that one of the best ways to succeed is to simply refuse to quit.
April Scientiae: We Rise Up Candid Engineer 2009
-
Another way to succeed is to educate people about what the Bill of Rights said and to instill values that lead most to the most libertarian readings of those rights, and do one's very best to marginalize those voices that look to erode civil liberties accretionally.
Obama Administration Looks To Reinstate Assault-Weapons Ban 2009
-
The way to succeed is to take the source material seriously.
The Golden Age Of Geekdom. | Solar Flare: Science Fiction News 2008
oroboros commented on the word succeed
Contronymic in the sense: win out vs. follow after (i.e., come in second--lose).
January 27, 2007