succession

 
Pronunciation: /səkˈsɛʃ(ə)n/

noun

  • 1a number of people or things of a similar kind following one after the other: she had been secretary to a succession of board directors
  • Geology a group of strata representing a single chronological sequence: the Cretaceous succession
  • 2 [mass noun] the action or process of inheriting a title, office, property, etc.: the new king was already elderly at the time of his succession
  • the right or sequence of inheriting a position, title, etc.: the succession to the Crown was disputed
  • Ecology the process by which a plant or animal community successively gives way to another until a stable climax is reached. Compare with sere2.

Phrases

in quick (or rapid) succession

following one another at short intervals: the area suffered two floods in quick succession

in succession

following one after the other without interruption: she won the race for the second year in succession

in succession to

inheriting or elected to the place of: he was elevated to the Lords in succession to his father

settle the succession

determine who shall succeed someone: the act settled the succession on the king’s granddaughter

Derivatives

successional

adjective

Origin:

Middle English (denoting legal transmission of an estate or the throne to another, also in the sense 'successors, heirs'): from Old French, or from Latin successio(n-), from the verb succedere (see succeed)

Spelling help

Remember that succession and the related word successive are spelled with a double c and a double s.