successor

American  

[suhk-ses-er] / səkˈsɛs ər /

noun

• successors
  plural

1. a person or thing that succeeds or follows.

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

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successor British  

/ 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′

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• successoral
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• successors
  plural

Etymology

Origin of successor

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

Explanation

If you are successor to the throne, that means you're next in line when the current royal has to step down. The successor takes over when someone gives up a position or title or when something becomes outdated. The noun successor was first used in the 13th century to mean "one who comes after." It's often used in reference to a royal court, where the successor is usually the king's eldest son. If something happens to the U.S. president, the vice president is the designated successor and will assume the position of head of government. It seems like every day there's a new and improved computer, a successor that replaces an earlier model.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

successor successors

His successor, Harry Truman, made it a permanent federal facility and then, after he took office in 1953, Dwight Eisenhower renamed it Camp David in honor of his young grandson.

From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2026

Pillinger, undeterred, proposed a successor, Beagle 3, which ESA rejected in 2004.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

Hastert served in the House from 1987 until 2007 and became speaker after the turbulent departure of fellow Republican Newt Gingrich and the withdrawal of Gingrich's intended successor, Bob Livingston.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

Harbaugh’s successor, Sherrone Moore, was calamitously ousted last December.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

“But Miss Anthony’s successor never! There is but one Miss Anthony, and she could not have a successor.”

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

This ongoing Lorne Watch, with predictions of his retirement and potential successors, began around Season 40 and continues.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

A ceiling on computing power, fewer frontier training runs or limits on AI systems designing their successors would strike much closer to the semiconductor industry.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026

Engelsman says all three former presenters were supportive of their successors and "were very paternal and caring about it".

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

After Kander died in 1940 at the age of 82, her successors worked to adapt her cookbook to post-World War II food trends.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Las Casas’s successors usually shared his ideas—the eighteenth- century Jesuit Francisco Javier Clavijero, for example, asserted that the pre-Columbian population of Mexico alone was thirty million.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Related Words

• replacement