succumb
Americanverb
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to give way in face of the overwhelming force (of) or desire (for)
-
to be fatally overwhelmed (by disease, old age, etc); die (of)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
succumbsimple
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succumbssimple
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have succumbedperfect
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has succumbedperfect
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am succumbingprogressive
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are succumbingprogressive
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is succumbingprogressive
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have been succumbingperfect progressive
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has been succumbingperfect progressive
Past
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succumbedsimple
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had succumbedperfect
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was succumbingprogressive
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were succumbingprogressive
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had been succumbingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of succumb
First recorded in 1480–90; from Latin succumbere, from suc- suc- + -cumbere (derivative of cubāre “to lie down, recline”); cf. incumbent
Explanation
Use the verb succumb to say that someone yields to something they've tried to fight off, such as despair, temptation, disease or injury. If you succumb to cancer, it means you die of it. From this sentence you can see that this verb is usually followed by the preposition to. The Latin root is succumbere, from the prefix sub- "under" plus -cumbere "to lie down."
Vocabulary lists containing succumb
Tier 2 Words for the SBAC ELA Items
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List 3
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 1–7
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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:
It’s the jaded who succumb to violence and hopelessness, dragging everyone down with them.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
These kinds of commoditized industries tend to succumb to price wars: The lowest-cost producer “wins” by destroying the entire industry’s margins.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
China may allow its currency to succumb to upward pressure as part of its trade negotiations with the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
But we don’t have to succumb to that pressure.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
“And perhaps that will be true. Perhaps I will succumb to the perils of the forest, and it will be the Witch who comes to claim my child.”
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
If it succumbs, a temporary oil-induced inflation blip could become something much longer lasting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 8, 2026
Soon “the spaceship is forced to land on a distant planet, and Rodolfo’s hallucinations grow increasingly intense until he finally succumbs to oxygen deprivation.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
In the more pessimistic schema, Tesla succumbs to competition and margin pressure, the market disregards Optimus in valuations and Robotaxi has slower growth expected.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 8, 2025
Malnourished and anemic, and without direct access to a health clinic, he succumbs to a treatable illness.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2025
On 29 January 2016, the last hive of honeybees, located on an almond farm in California, succumbs to CCD.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
On Wednesday, his lawyer Ménya Arab-Tigrine denied any wrongdoing by Siad—who was in his late sixties—suggesting he might have succumbed to the stress of being under public scrutiny.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The British number one had finally succumbed to Croatia's Donna Vekic in a slow-burning Queen's final, unable to save a fifth Championship point and continue a match which she had admirably stoked into a scrap.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
Initially Chantal only invested 250 euros, but after seeing her money quickly quadruple she succumbed when advisors asked if she wanted to invest more money.
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
This is what it feels like to live in a society that has succumbed to what the late psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton described as “malignant normality.”
From Salon ● May 24, 2026
For a moment he succumbed, seduced by gentleness.
From "Beowulf: A New Telling" by Robert Nye
McCraney, Geffen Playhouse’s artistic director, said forging a path forward in nonprofit theater without succumbing to commercial pressure to produce only guaranteed hits requires the delicate balance of surfing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Egypt had given everything, finally succumbing to Enzo Fernandez's header in stoppage time for the most heartbreaking of exits.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
McCain said these varieties, plus the work of farmers like Bubb, turned potatoes once wilting under drought and succumbing to disease during floods into much more resilient potatoes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
Pilgrims perform most of the hajj's rites outdoors where more than a million devotees gather in stifling conditions, with many attendees succumbing to heatstroke, fainting spells and even cardiac arrest triggered by the heat.
From Barron's ● May 25, 2026
Well into December, individuals were still succumbing to the fever, and Thomas Jefferson was worrying over which houses were safe to enter.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
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.
