successive
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
happening one after another in a series.
following in an uninterrupted sequence or order.
Simple“The team won three successive games and moved to the top of the league.”
In context“The region suffered through four successive years of drought, leading to a total collapse of the local agricultural economy.”
UsageUsually placed before the noun it modifies.
SynonymsAntonymssimultaneousnon consecutive - 02 C1 Advanced
relating to how titles or property pass from one person to the next in a family.
relating to a succession, particularly regarding the inheritance of a title, office, or property.
Simple“The crown was passed down through successive generations of the royal family.”
In context“The legal dispute centered on whether the successive heirs had a legitimate claim to the estate under the original 18th-century deed.”
Synonymshereditarylineal - 03 C2 Proficiency
a special way of describing an action that must finish before another one starts.
relating to a grammatical aspect where the completion of one action is a necessary premise for the main action.
Simple“The professor explained how the successive aspect works in certain languages.”
In context“In linguistic typology, the successive aspect is often analyzed in relation to perfective markers that emphasize the chronological ordering of events.”
successive vs successful — Successful describes achieving a goal, while successive describes things following one after another in a sequence.
Usage successive governments · successive heatwaves
“The blazes follow successive heatwaves this summer that have scorched approximately 500,000 hectares of land across the European Union.”
“There are 14 million adults classified as obese, despite successive governments launching 14 separate obesity strategies over the past three decades.”
From Latin succedere (“to succeed in”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.