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Synonyms

successful

American  
[suhk-ses-fuhl] / səkˈsɛs fəl /

adjective

  1. achieving or having achieved success.

  2. having attained wealth, position, honors, or the like.

  3. resulting in or attended with success.

successful British  
/ səkˈsɛsfʊl /

adjective

  1. having succeeded in one's endeavours

  2. marked by a favourable outcome

  3. having obtained fame, wealth, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

First recorded in 1580–90; success + -ful

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.