successor

[suhk-ses-er]

noun

1. a person or thing that succeeds or follows.

2. a person who succeeds another in an office, position, or the like.

successor

/ səkˈsɛsə /

noun

1. a person or thing that follows, esp a person who succeeds another in an office

2. logic the element related to a given element by a serial ordering, esp the natural number next larger to a given one. The successor of n is n + 1, usually written Sn or n′

Other Word Forms

• successoral adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of successor¹

1250–1300; < Latin, equivalent to succed-, variant stem of succēdere to succeed + -tor -tor, with dt > ss; replacing Middle English successour < Anglo-French < Latin, as above

Example Sentences

This alienation of Israel’s erstwhile friends around the world stands to erode, in a potentially lasting way, not only the standing of Netanyahu and his successors but also the long-term viability of Israel’s founding project.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

But the policy was reversed in 2019 by her successor Sajid Javid, who made it easier to making it easier for officers to search people without reasonable suspicion in places where serious violence may occur.

Read more on BBC

Now Lecornu, his successor, has resigned after only 26 days in the job, blaming "partisan appetites" among coalition parties.

Read more on BBC

Still, Nixon felt that Hoover had not been compliant enough, so in 1972 he selected Gray, a longtime friend and assistant attorney general, to be Hoover’s successor.

Read more on Salon

Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell took on most of Mr Welby's responsibilities in an interim move, and was one of the voting members of the body charged with choosing his successor.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• replacement