adjective
-
having succeeded in one's endeavours
-
marked by a favourable outcome
-
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.
By combining task based experiments with fMRI data, the team found no measurable difference in brain activity between successful episodic and semantic memory retrieval.
From Science Daily
A successful businessman, for two years from 2017 he faced a new challenge that came to dominate his life.
From BBC
With a band having a successful career for over three decades, Noodles said there have been instances of being approached by professional athletes who are fans of the Offspring.
From Los Angeles Times
"That attempt, however, was not successful and the Solong did not change course at all," he said.
From Barron's
"That attempt, however, was not successful and the Solong did not change course at all," he said.
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.
