The Meaning of Succession: What It Is and How To Use It

Today’s word of the day is succession! Whether you heard of this word through the popular television series Succession or read it in daily life, this article will clarify everything you need to know about the word succession. 

Soon, you will be able to say all of the facts you know about this word in rapid succession! 

What Does Succession Mean?

According to Dictionary, the word succession is a noun. The definition of succession is the coming of things or people in a specific sequence, one after another. This word can also refer to the order in which titles, offices, or ranks lead to one another. 

The pronunciation of succession is səkˈseʃ ə n, and succession is three syllables: suc-ces-sion.

The word succession is also a term in the ecology field. Ecological succession refers to the progressive replacement of an ecological community by a new community until they reach a climax community in an ecosystem.

You might often hear the word succession used in the phrase “in succession.” This term means in a line or in a specific order. The adverb form of the word succession is successively, and the verb form of succession is succeed.

What Is the Etymology of Succession?

If you know the word origin of words like succession, it is often easier to discern their definition. The word succession entered the English language a very long time ago, some time during the late 1200s or early 1300s in Middle English. 

The term succession stems from Old French and the Latin successio and succedere, which is the past participle of succēdere. Can you think of any other words that might come from these Latin roots?

How Can We Use Succession in a Sentence?

Below, you will find several example sentences that contain the word succession. Studying examples of succession is a great way to get familiar with how to use this new word in a sentence. After you familiarize yourself with these example sentences, try coming up with your own examples for the word succession or use the word succession in your daily life today.

Example #1

During her first day on the job as an assistant, her boss had her call a number of persons in rapid succession. She felt like she was chucked into the deep end with no training.

Example #2

The youngest member of the royal family was resigned to the line of succession. Though he wanted to run the country more than any of his nine brothers, they would all have to abdicate the throne for him to rule.

Example #3

The prosecutor fired off questions to the man on trial in quick succession to try and confuse him.

Example #4

The children stood in order of succession at their parents’ important business dinner, dressed to impress like they were something out of the movie The Sound of Music.

Example #5

Each member of the bridal party spoke in succession planning the bridal party except the bride, who felt like she could not get a word in edgewise. She wanted a simple, cozy night in while the rest of the group wanted to be out on the town all night.

What Are Translations of Succession?

People use words for succession all around the globe, and not just in American English. If you are going to be traveling or communicating with a person who does not speak English, it is a good idea to know how to say the word succession. 

You can use this list of translations of succession from Nice Translator to help you learn all about how to say succession in different languages. 

Can you tell which of these translations of succession have the same root as the word succession? Here’s a hint: They may look and sound similar!

• Basque: garaiz
• Slovak: postupnosť
• Telugu: వారసత్వం
• Spanish: sucesión
• Gujarati: ઉત્તરાધિકાર
• Lithuanian: paveldėjimas
• Filipino: Tagumpay
• Ukrainian: спадщина
• Tamil: அடுத்தடுத்து
• Thai: การสืบทอด
• Icelandic: röð
• Arabic: الخلافة
• Catalan: succitació
• Serbian: сукцесија
• French: Succession
• Polish: dziedziczenie
• Vietnamese: sự kế thừa
• Swahili: mfululizo
• Welsh: olyniaeth
• Latvian: pēctecība
• Croatian: nasljeđivanje
• Turkish: halefiyet
• Russian: последовательность
• Norwegian: suksess
• Urdu: جانشینی
• Dutch: opvolging
• Hindi: उत्तराधिकार
• Marathi: उत्तराधिकार
• Bengali: উত্তরাধিকার
• Japanese: 継承
• Portuguese (Portugal): sucessão
• Swedish: följd
• Danish: succession
• Estonian: järelkasv
• Portuguese (Brazil): sucessão
• Romanian: serie
• Hungarian: sorrend
• German: Nachfolge
• Chinese (Taiwan): 演替
• Greek: διαδοχή
• Czech: posloupnost
• Malay: pewarisan
• Korean: 계승
• Kannada: ಉತ್ತರಾಧಿಕಾರ
• Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁה
• Slovenian: zaporedje
• Bulgarian: последователност
• Indonesian: suksesi
• Chinese (PRC): 演替
• Malayalam: തുടർച്ചകമായ
• Finnish: peräkkäisyys
• Italian: successione
• Amharic: ተተኪ
  

What Are Synonyms of Succession?

Since the word succession has a few different definitions, it can be helpful to know synonyms for the word succession. When you know synonyms of a word like succession, you can clarify what you mean by the word succession. 

Knowing synonyms, like the ones in the below word list from Power Thesaurus, is also a great way to expand your vocabulary so you can change up your verbiage in your speech and writing. 

• accession
• alternation
• arrangement
• array
• catenation
• chain
• concatenation
• consecution
• consecutiveness
• continuation
• continuity
• course
• cycle
• descent
• dynasty
• elevation
• file
• flood
• flow
• flurry
• inheritance
• legacy
• line
• lineage
• order
• procession
• progression
• queue
• range
• rash
• rotation
• rotations
• round
• run
• scale
• sequence
• sequences
• series
• spate
• stream
• string
• subsequence
• successiveness
• suite
• taking over
• trail
• train
  

What Are Antonyms of Succession?

There are several words in the English language that have the opposite definition of the word succession. These words are known as antonyms of succession. 

If something is not done in succession, it may be done at random or haphazardly. Do you know what any of these antonyms of succession from Power Thesaurus mean?

• accident
• accidental
• adventitious
• aimless
• aleatory
• arbitrary
• capricious
• casual
• chance
• coincidental
• confused
• contingent
• desultory
• disorganized
• erratic
• fitful
• fluky
• fortuitous
• haphazard
• haphazardly
• helter-skelter
• hit-or-miss
• incidental
• indiscriminate
• intermittent
• irregular
• occasional
• odd
• promiscuous
• purposeless
• random
• randomly
• serendipitous
• spasmodic
• sporadic
• stray
• undirected
• unexpected
• unintentional
• unmethodical
• unorganized
• unplanned
• unpredictable
• unsystematic
• wanton
• wild
  

Conclusion

To wrap this article up, just remember that succession (səkˈsɛʃən) is a noun that means an order or rank.

Sources:

Succession synonyms – 841 Words and Phrases for Succession | Power Thesaurus 

Succession antonyms – 39 Opposites of Succession | Power Thesaurus 

Succession Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com English Dictionary