success
Americannoun
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successes
plural
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the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the accomplishment of one's goals.
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the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.
- Synonyms:
- triumph, accomplishment, achievement
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a performance or achievement that is marked by success, as by the attainment of honors.
The play was an instant success.
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a person or thing that has had success, as measured by attainment of goals, wealth, etc..
She was a great success on the talk show.
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Obsolete. outcome.
noun
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the favourable outcome of something attempted
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the attainment of wealth, fame, etc
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an action, performance, etc, that is characterized by success
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a person or thing that is successful
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obsolete any outcome
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonsuccessnoun
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presuccessnoun
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successlessnessnoun
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semisuccessadjective
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successlessadjective
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successlesslyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of success
First recorded in 1530–40; from Latin successus, equivalent to succēd-, stem of succēdere succeed + -tus suffix of verb action, with -dt- regularly becoming -ss-
Explanation
For some students, success in school means getting As and Bs. For others, it means getting straight As, starring in the school play, and winning the class election. Success means achieving a goal, and everyone's goals are different. We tend to think of success as a triumph or victory, but if you look at its linguistic roots in Latin, success literally just means "result." At some point several centuries ago people probably began using success as shorthand for "good success," and eventually they dropped the good altogether. That would explain why in formal settings you still occasionally hear the phrase "good success," even though we now think of all successes as good.
Vocabulary lists containing success
"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act I
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Commonly Misspelled Words, List 5
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"Kids Are Inventors, Too"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Fame is a bedfellow of the newer, more modern American dream, which promises not only contentment, but success, as a reward for ambition, ravaging the lifestyles of millions of people in the process.
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026
Beer, who was appointed chief executive in 2025, says the governing body did make efforts to build on the success, pointing to the 2018 Women's World Cup in London and growth in junior club participation.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
While we don’t know how the series of events played out at L3Harris, Palazzo argues that in general preventing ambiguity requires regularly talking about values and linking ethical choices to success at the company.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
The company owes its success in part to a smart strategic choice that has helped it take over the U.S. classroom.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
It was like the planets and the stars were aligning to ensure my success.
From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen
Recent successes have also flipped the narrative on Tehran’s investment in the axis and its effectiveness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
China's Tianwen-1 mission already landed a rover named Zhurong on the surface of Mars in 2021, in one of the most spectacular successes of Beijing's space programme.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
The two relay successes took Britain's medal tally to 12 - including six golds - as the hosts remained in hot pursuit of table-topping Italy heading into the final day of competition.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Ukrainian former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has credited the successes to Ukraine’s rapid technological advances.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Suddenly, everything they thought they knew about their successes and failures in Berlin seemed topsy-turvy.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
