succeed

• succede (dated)

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”)

• IPA^(key): /səkˈsiːd/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -iːd
• Hyphenation: suc‧ceed

succeed (third-person singular simple present succeeds, present participle succeeding, simple past and past participle succeeded)

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.

   The persecution of any righteous practice has never succeeded in the face of history; in fact, it can expedite the collapse of the persecutory regime.

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 Browne

     Destructive effects […] succeeded the curse.

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 49

     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.
   • Dryden

     Succeed 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.

• (follow in order): come after; see also Thesaurus:succeed
• (support; prosper; promote): do well, flourish; see also Thesaurus:prosper

• (follow in order): precede; see also Thesaurus:precede
• (obtain the object desired; accomplish what is attempted or intended): fail, fall on one's face
• (support; prosper; promote): fail

• succede