succession

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English [Term?], from Old French succession, from Latin successiō (noun).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /səkˈsɛʃ.ən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

succession (countable and uncountable, plural successions)

1. An act, process, or instance of succeeding:
   1. An act of following in sequence.
      • 2023 December 27, David Turner, “Silent lines...”, in RAIL, number 999, page 29:

        In 1958, it was reported that for "the fourth year in succession, staff of four South London stations have combined to decorate the booking hall at Peckham Rye station". They installed a nativity scene, models of Father Christmas, and a sleigh driven by huskies, and Christmas trees were placed around the station.

   2. A sequence of things in order.
      • 2011 April 10, Alistair Magowan, “Aston Villa 1 - 0 Newcastle”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

        Villa spent most of the second period probing from wide areas and had a succession of corners but despite their profligacy they will be glad to overturn the 6-0 hammering they suffered at St James' Park in August following former boss Martin O'Neill's departure

      • 2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport‎^[2]:

        England gave away six penalties in the first 15 minutes and were lucky to still have 15 men on the pitch, but Kvirikashvili missed two very makeable penalties in quick succession as Georgia were unable to take advantage of significant territorial advantage.

   3. A passing of royal powers.
   4. A group of rocks or strata that succeed one another in chronological order.
   5. A race or series of descendants.
   6. (agriculture) Rotation, as of crops.
   7. A right to take possession.
   8. (historical) In Roman and Scots law, the taking of property by one person in place of another.
   9. (obsolete, rare) The person who succeeds to rank or office; a successor or heir.
      • 1670, John Milton, “(please specify the page)”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC:

        long descent of Kings , whose names only for many successions without other memory stand thus register'd

Synonyms

• (an act of following in sequence): See Thesaurus:posteriority
• (a sequence of things in order): See Thesaurus:sequence

Derived terms

• agreement as to succession
• apostolic succession
• in quick succession
• line of succession
• order of succession
• rule of succession
• successional
• successionary
• succession duty
• turn in succession
• war of succession

 

Related terms

• successive

Translations

following in sequence

• Bulgarian: последователност (bg) f (posledovatelnost), редуване (bg) n (reduvane)
• Dutch: opeenvolging (nl)
• Finnish: seuraaminen (fi)
• French: succession (fr) f
• Galician: sucesión (gl) f
• Georgian: თანმიმდევრობა (tanmimdevroba)
• Greek: διαδοχή (el) f (diadochí)

  Ancient: διαδοχή f (diadokhḗ)

• Hungarian: sorozat (hu), sorra/egymásra következés, (with a possessive or inessive suffix) egymásután (hu)
• Italian: successione (it) f
• Maori: tauatanga, raupapatanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: suksesjon m

  Nynorsk: suksesjon m

• Portuguese: sucessão (pt) f
• Romanian: succesiune (ro) f
• Russian: следование (ru) (sledovanije)
• Spanish: sucesión (es) f
• Welsh: olyniaeth f, olyniad m

sequence arranged in order

• Azerbaijani: ardıcıllıq, cərgə (az), sıra (az)
• Bulgarian: последователност (bg) f (posledovatelnost)
• Czech: sled (cs) m, posloupnost f
• Dutch: opeenvolging (nl)
• Esperanto: sinsekvo
• Finnish: sarja (fi)
• Georgian: თანმიმდევრობა (tanmimdevroba)
• German: Abfolge (de)
• Greek: διαδοχή (el) f (diadochí)
• Hungarian: sor (hu), sorrend (hu), sorrendiség (hu), egymásután (hu)
• Latin: seriēs f
• Maori: raupapatanga
• Romanian: șir (ro) n, succesiune (ro) f
• Russian: последовательность (ru) (posledovatelʹnostʹ)

passing of royal power

• Azerbaijani: vərasət, vəliəhdlik, varislik
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 继承 (zh) (jì chéng)

• Czech: následnictví n
• Danish: tronfølge c (legal concept), arvefølge c (historiographic)
• Dutch: troonswisseling (nl)
• Esperanto: posteuleco
• Finnish: kruununperimys
• French: succession (fr) f
• German: Thronfolge (de)
• Greek: διαδοχή (el) f (diadochí)

  Ancient: διαδοχή f (diadokhḗ)

• Hungarian: örökösödés (hu), utódlás (hu), trónutódlás (hu), öröklés (hu), trónöröklés (hu)
• Indonesian: suksesi (id)
• Italian: successione (it) f
• Japanese: 相続 (ja) (そうぞく, sōzoku)
• Latin: successiō (la) f
• Malay: pewarisan
• Polish: sukcesja (pl) f
• Portuguese: sucessão (pt) f
• Russian: престолонаследие (ru) (prestolonasledije)
• Spanish: sucesión (es) f
• Swedish: tronföljd (sv) c
• Tagalog: halilinan
• Welsh: olyniaeth f, olyniad m

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin successiōnem (accusative singular successiōnem).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /syk.sɛ.sjɔ̃/ ~ /syk.se.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

succession f (plural successions)

1. succession
2. series
3. inheritance, as in the passing of possessions from a deceased person to his or her inheritors

Derived terms

• droits de succession

Further reading

• “succession”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Swedish

Noun

succession c

1. succession (succeeding someone in a position)
   1. (monarchy) succession

      Synonym: tronföljd

Declension

Declension of succession

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	succession	successions
	definite	successionen	successionens
plural	indefinite	successioner	successioners
	definite	successionerna	successionernas

Derived terms

• successionsordning (“line of succession”)
• successionsrätt (“succession rights”)

See also

• efterträda

References

• succession in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• succession in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)