adjective
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having succeeded in one's endeavours
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marked by a favourable outcome
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having obtained fame, wealth, etc
Usage
Spelling tips for successful The word successful is hard to spell because it can be hard to know which letters are doubled. Both the c and the middle s are doubled, but the f and l are not. How to spell successful: To be a success, you need to see (two Cs) Some Smarts (two Ss). This reminds you that success is spelled with a double C in the middle and a double S at the end. To spell successful, you add the base word (success) to the suffix -ful.
Other Word Forms
- half-successful adjective
- half-successfully adverb
- half-successfulness noun
- nonsuccessful adjective
- nonsuccessfully adverb
- presuccessful adjective
- presuccessfully adverb
- quasi-successful adjective
- quasi-successfully adverb
- semisuccessful adjective
- semisuccessfully adverb
- successfully adverb
- successfulness noun
Etymology
Origin of successful
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.
“We’re a very rare company that has already an approval in Japan with the proof-of-concept market that has been successful,” he said.
Fungi without these genes were much less successful at infecting bark beetles, showing that the detoxification process is critical for overcoming the beetles' chemical defenses.
From Science Daily
While she did eventually have surgery, she said it wasn't successful and she has been back on the waiting list for almost two years.
From BBC
“It’s not just one opportunity to be successful and one opportunity to exit.”
The more successful it is, the more likely it will be to take those strategies to Taiwan.
From Barron's
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.
