succeed Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb attain success or reach a desired goal
    win; come through; bring home the bacon; deliver the goods.
    • The enterprise succeeded
    • We succeeded in getting tickets to the show
    • she struggled to overcome her handicap and won
  2. verb be the successor (of)
    come after; follow.
    • Carter followed Ford
    • Will Charles succeed to the throne?

WordNet

Suc*ceed" transitive verb
Etymology
L. succedere, successum; sub under + cedere to go, to go along, approach, follow, succeed: cf. F. succéder. See Cede, and cf. Success.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Succeeded; present participle & verbal noun Succeeding
Definitions
  1. To follow in order; to come next after; hence, to take the place of; as, the king's eldest son succeeds his father on the throne; autumn succeeds summer.
    As he saw him nigh succeed. Spenser.
  2. To fall heir to; to inherit. Obs. & R. Shak.
  3. To come after; to be subsequent or consequent to; to follow; to pursue.
    Destructive effects . . . succeeded the curse. Sir T. Browne.
  4. To support; to prosper; to promote. R.
    Succeed my wish and second my design. Dryden.
Suc*ceed" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. 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.
    If the father left only daughters, they equally succeeded to him in copartnership. Sir M. Hale.
    Enjoy till I return Short pleasures; for long woes are to succeed! Milton.
  2. Specifically: To ascend the throne after the removal the death of the occupant.
    No woman shall succeed in Salique land. Shak.
  3. To descend, as an estate or an heirloom, in the same family; to devolve. Shak.
  4. To obtain the object desired; to accomplish what is attempted or intended; to have a prosperous issue or termination; to be successful; as, he succeeded in his plans; his plans succeeded.
    It is almost impossible for poets to succeed without ambition. Dryden.
    Spenser endeavored it in Shepherd's Kalendar; but neither will it succeed in English. Dryden.
  5. To go under cover. A latinism. Obs.
    Will you to the cooler cave succeed! Dryden.
    Syn. -- To follow; pursue. See Follow.

Webster 1913