successive
Americanadjective
-
following in order or in uninterrupted sequence; consecutive.
three successive days.
-
following another in a regular sequence.
the second successive day.
-
characterized by or involving succession.
adjective
-
following another without interruption
-
of or involving succession
a successive process
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of successive
1400–50; late Middle English < Medieval Latin successīvus, equivalent to success ( us ), past participle of succēdere to succeed + -īvus -ive
Explanation
Successive is a word for things (or people) that follow each other in time. If three presidents in a row were over sixty, you could say, "Three successive presidents were over sixty." Successive is a word that comes up often when you're looking at the history of something. Back in the 1960s, eight successive Boston Celtics teams won the NBA championship. In school, if you do very well, you could get an A in three successive math classes. Even though successive has the word success in it, it's not necessarily a good thing: you could also miss ten successive free throws.
Vocabulary lists containing successive
Siddhartha
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The Joy Luck Club
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The Thing About Jellyfish
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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.
Successive Colombian governments have eyed fracking projects in the area, hoping to bring revenue and jobs.
From Barron's • Apr. 20, 2026
Successive low pressure systems have delivered a lot of rain to parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and north-west England.
From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026
Successive governments have dealt with Israeli diplomats only as far as allowing technical discussions with Lebanese military officials via the United Nations.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026
Successive governments of the right and left have positioned the country, which has the world's sixth-fastest internet speeds, according to Speedtest Global Index, as a tech hub.
From Barron's • Mar. 12, 2026
Successive waves of immigrants filled its factories, working for little above minimum wage as they cut, sewed, and hustled the garments into trucks to carry across the country.
From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers
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.
