use-icon

HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY

To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.

Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.

guide to the dictionary

use-icon

THE USAGE PANEL

The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.

The Panelists

open-icon

AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP

The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.

scroll-icon

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG

The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.

100-words-icon

See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series!

Find out more!

open-icon

INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?

Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com

suc·ces·sion (sək-sĕshən)
Share:
n.
1. The act or process of following in order or sequence.
2. A group of people or things arranged or following in order; a sequence: "A succession of one-man stalls offered soft drinks" (Alec Waugh). See Synonyms at series.
3.
a. The sequence in which one person after another succeeds to a title, throne, or position.
b. The right of a person or a line of persons to so succeed.
4.
a. The act or process of succeeding to the rights or duties of another.
b. The act or process of becoming entitled as a legal beneficiary to the property of a deceased person.
5. Ecology The gradual replacement of one type of ecological community by another in the same area, involving a series of orderly changes, especially in the dominant vegetation, and often resulting in the establishment of a climax community.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin successiō, successiōn-, from successus, past participle of succēdere, to succeed; see SUCCEED.]

suc·cession·al adj.
suc·cession·al·ly adv.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.