Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act or process of following in order or sequence.
  • noun A group of people or things arranged or following in order; a sequence: synonym: series.
  • noun The sequence in which one person after another succeeds to a title, throne, or position.
  • noun The right of a person or a line of persons to so succeed.
  • noun The act or process of succeeding to the rights or duties of another.
  • noun The act or process of becoming entitled as a legal beneficiary to the property of a deceased person.
  • noun Ecology The gradual replacement of one type of ecological community by another in the same area, involving a series of orderly changes, especially in the dominant vegetation, and often resulting in the establishment of a climax community.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A following of things in order; consecution; also, a series of things following one another, either in time or in place.
  • noun The act or right of succeeding to the place, proper dignity, functions, or rights of another; the act or right of succeeding or coming to an inheritance; the act or right of enteringupon an office, rank, etc., held by another: as, he holds the property by the title of succession; also, a line of persons so succeeding.
  • noun Especially— The act of succeeding under established custom or law to the dignity and rights of a sovereign; also, a line of sovereigns thus following one another.
  • noun Eccles., the act of succeeding to clerical office or receiving transmitted authority through ordination; a series of persons so succeeding. See apostolic succession, under apostolic.
  • noun An order or series of descendants; lineage; successors collectively; heirs.
  • noun In biology, descent with modification in unbroken evolutionary series; the sequence of organic forms thus developed; the fact or the result of evolution or development along any line of descent or during any period of time.
  • noun A person succeeding to rank, office, or the; like.
  • noun In music, same as progression (of parts) or as sequence, 5.
  • noun In psychology, suggestion; association.
  • noun More specifically, the continuity of title in a corporation notwithstanding successive changes of membership.
  • noun In phytogeography, the sequence of one plant-formation upon another on the same ground in response to changes in the conditions. Successions result from a great variety of causes, such as the gradual enrichment of soil, the accumulation of humus in peat-bogs, volcanic action, etc., or human agency, as in deforestation, cultivation, etc.
  • noun In horticulture and agriculture, a continuous yield of the same crop, secured by planting either the same variety at intervals or different varieties requiring different periods for maturing at the same time. See succession cane.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of succeeding, or following after; a following of things in order of time or place, or a series of things so following; sequence.
  • noun A series of persons or things according to some established rule of precedence.
  • noun An order or series of descendants; lineage; race; descent.
  • noun The power or right of succeeding to the station or title of a father or other predecessor; the right to enter upon the office, rank, position, etc., held ny another; also, the entrance into the office, station, or rank of a predecessor; specifically, the succeeding, or right of succeeding, to a throne.
  • noun The right to enter upon the possession of the property of an ancestor, or one near of kin, or one preceding in an established order.
  • noun rare The person succeeding to rank or office; a successor or heir.
  • noun (Theol.) See under Apostolical.
  • noun [Eng.] a tax imposed on every succession to property, according to its value and the relation of the person who succeeds to the previous owner.
  • noun (Agric.) See Rotation of crops, under Rotation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An act of following in sequence.
  • noun A sequence of things in order.
  • noun A passing of royal powers.
  • noun A group of rocks or strata that succeed one another in chronological order.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a group of people or things arranged or following in order
  • noun (ecology) the gradual and orderly process of change in an ecosystem brought about by the progressive replacement of one community by another until a stable climax is established
  • noun a following of one thing after another in time
  • noun the action of following in order
  • noun acquisition of property by descent or by will

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin successiō, successiōn-, from successus, past participle of succēdere, to succeed; see succeed.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin successio, successionem.

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Examples

  • But if, time thus spreading itself out in space and succession becoming juxtaposition, science has nothing to change in what it tells us, we must conclude that, in what it tells us, it takes account neither of _succession_ in what of it is specific nor of _time_ in what there is in it that is fluent.

    Evolution créatrice. English Henri Bergson 1900

  • Thus he says, "It is incumbent to obey the _presbyters_ who are in the Church, those who possess the succession from the apostles, and who together with the _succession of the episcopate_ have received the certain gift of truth." ...

    The Ignatian Epistles Entirely Spurious A Reply to the Right Rev. Dr. Lightfoot 1854

  • Even Robert Hall (in his famous Sermon on Modern Infidelity) could but play, when he attempted grappling with the subject, upon the words _time_ and _eternity_, and strangely argue, that as each member of an infinite series must have begun in _time_, while the succession itself was _eternal_, it was palpably absurd to ask us to believe in a _succession_ of beings that was thus infinitely earlier than any of the beings themselves which composed the succession.

    The Testimony of the Rocks or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed Hugh Miller 1829

  • Furthermore, to read many books in succession is to dilute the effect of all of them:

    Are Book Awards Useless? 2009

  • Furthermore, to read many books in succession is to dilute the effect of all of them:

    January 2009 2009

  • To do all of these contradictory things in succession is astounding.

    The Father of Palestine 2005

  • So it is that the source falls in succession from the two witnessing parties (Rove and Fitzgerald).

    Think Progress » Is Karl Rove Still Leaking? 2005

  • To do all of these contradictory things in succession is astounding.

    The Father of Palestine 2005

  • To do all of these contradictory things in succession is astounding.

    The Father of Palestine 2005

  • The almost universal testimony of English men and women who have undergone great fatigue, such as riding long journeys without stopping, or sitting up for several nights in succession, is that they could do it best upon an occasional cup of tea – and nothing else.

    Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not 1860

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