Meanings
nounsuccessor (plural successors)
plural successors · alternative obsolete successour
- A person or thing that immediately follows another in holding an office or title.
They haven't yet named her successor.
3 more examples
George W. Bush was successor to Bill Clinton as President of the US.
After Li Tan's death in 1625, Hsu Hsin-su (許心素), leader of the Chang-chou people dwelling in and around the city of Hsia-men (廈門, or Amoy), emerged as his successor.
2003, Tu Cheng-sheng, translated by Paul Cooper, Ilha Formosa: the Emergence of Taiwan on the World Scene in the 17th Century, →OCLC, →OL, page 27As Di Matteo celebrated and captain John Terry raised the trophy for the fourth time, the Italian increased his claims to become the permanent successor to Andre Villas-Boas by landing a trophy.
2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC SportSynonyms: aftercomer
- The next heir in order or succession.
- arithmeticThe integer, ordinal number or cardinal number immediately following another.
A limit ordinal is not the successor of any ordinal.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA person or thing that immediately follows another in holding an office or title.
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Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinsuccessor
- Anglo-Normansuccessour
- Englishsuccessor
From Anglo-Norman successour, from Latin successor.
More words from Anglo-Norman, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek διάδοχος, διάδοχος
- διάδοχος (diádokhos)person or thing that immediately follows another
- διάδοχος (diádokhos)next heir in order or succession
Arabic خَلِيف, وَارِث
- خَلِيف (ḵalīf)person or thing that immediately follows another
- وَارِث (wāriṯ)next heir in order or succession
- وَارِثَة (wāriṯa)next heir in order or succession
Bulgarian прие́мник, прие́мничка
- прие́мник (priémnik)person or thing that immediately follows another
- прие́мничка (priémnička)person or thing that immediately follows another
- насле́дник (naslédnik)next heir in order or succession
- насле́дничка (naslédnička)next heir in order or succession
- наследник (naslednik)person who inherits a title or office
- престолонаследник (prestolonaslednik)person who inherits a title or office
- наследник (naslednik)integer or cardinal immediately following another
Catalan successor, successora
- successorperson or thing that immediately follows another
- successoraperson or thing that immediately follows another
Chinese Mandarin 繼任者 /继任者, 繼承人 /继承人
- 繼任者 /继任者 (jìrènzhě)person or thing that immediately follows another
- 繼承人 /继承人 (jìchéngrén)next heir in order or succession
Czech následník, následnice
- následníkperson or thing that immediately follows another
- následniceperson or thing that immediately follows another
- nástupceperson or thing that immediately follows another
- nástupkyněperson or thing that immediately follows another
- dědicnext heir in order or succession
- dědičkanext heir in order or succession
Danish efterfølger, efterfølger
- efterfølgerperson or thing that immediately follows another
- efterfølgernext heir in order or succession
Dutch opvolger, opvolgster
- opvolgerperson or thing that immediately follows another
- opvolgsterperson or thing that immediately follows another
Esperanto posteulo, sekvanto
- posteuloperson or thing that immediately follows another
- sekvantoperson or thing that immediately follows another
- heredontonext heir in order or succession
- posteuloperson who inherits a title or office
Finnish seuraaja, seuraaja
- seuraajaperson or thing that immediately follows another
- seuraajanext heir in order or succession
- manttelinperijänext heir in order or succession
- kruununperijänext heir in order or succession
- seuraajaperson who inherits a title or office
- vallanperijäperson who inherits a title or office
- seuraajainteger or cardinal immediately following another
French successeur, successeuse
- successeurperson or thing that immediately follows another
- successeuseperson or thing that immediately follows another
- successriceperson or thing that immediately follows another
- successeurnext heir in order or succession
- successeusenext heir in order or succession
- successricenext heir in order or succession
German Nachfolger, Nachfolgerin
- Nachfolgerperson or thing that immediately follows another
- Nachfolgerinperson or thing that immediately follows another
- Nachfolgernext heir in order or succession
- Nachfolgerinnext heir in order or succession
- Erbenext heir in order or succession
- Erbinnext heir in order or succession
- Nachfolgerperson who inherits a title or office
- Nachfolgerinperson who inherits a title or office
Greek διάδοχος, διάδοχος
- διάδοχος (diádochos)person or thing that immediately follows another
- διάδοχος (diádochos)next heir in order or succession
- διάδοχος (diádochos)person who inherits a title or office
Hindi उत्तराधिकारी, उत्तराधिकारी
- उत्तराधिकारी (uttarādhikārī)person or thing that immediately follows another
- उत्तराधिकारी (uttarādhikārī)next heir in order or succession
- वारिस (vāris)next heir in order or succession
- उत्तराधिकारी (uttarādhikārī)person who inherits a title or office
- परवर्ती (parvartī)integer or cardinal immediately following another
- उत्तरवर्ती (uttarvartī)integer or cardinal immediately following another
Icelandic eftirfari
- eftirfariinteger or cardinal immediately following another
Indonesian penerus, pewaris
- penerusperson or thing that immediately follows another
- pewarisnext heir in order or succession
- pewarisperson who inherits a title or office
Italian successore, succeditrice
- successoreperson or thing that immediately follows another
- succeditriceperson or thing that immediately follows another
- successoraperson or thing that immediately follows another
- eredenext heir in order or succession
- successoreperson who inherits a title or office
- succeditriceperson who inherits a title or office
- successoreinteger or cardinal immediately following another
Japanese 後任, 後継者
- 後任 (kōnin)person or thing that immediately follows another
- 後継者 (kōkeisha)person or thing that immediately follows another
- 継承者 (keishōsha)person or thing that immediately follows another
- 相続人 (sōzokujin)next heir in order or succession
- 後任 (kōnin)person who inherits a title or office
- 後継者 (kōkeisha)person who inherits a title or office
- 継承者 (keishōsha)person who inherits a title or office
Korean 후임자, 계승자
- 후임자 (hu'imja)person or thing that immediately follows another
- 계승자 (gyeseungja)person or thing that immediately follows another
- 상속인 (sangsogin)next heir in order or succession
- 후임 (hu'im)person who inherits a title or office
- 후계자 (hugyeja)person who inherits a title or office
- 계승자 (gyeseungja)person who inherits a title or office
Latin successor, successor
- successorperson or thing that immediately follows another
- successornext heir in order or succession
- successorperson who inherits a title or office
Māori whakakapi, piki tūranga
- whakakapiperson or thing that immediately follows another
- piki tūrangaperson or thing that immediately follows another
- kairīwhiperson or thing that immediately follows another
- piki tūranganext heir in order or succession
- piki tūrangaperson who inherits a title or office
- whākapiperson who inherits a title or office
Norwegian Bokmål etterkommer, etterfølger
- etterkommerperson or thing that immediately follows another
- etterfølgerperson or thing that immediately follows another
- oppfølgerperson or thing that immediately follows another
Persian وارث
- وارث (vâres)next heir in order or succession
Polish następca, następczyni
- następcaperson or thing that immediately follows another
- następczyniperson or thing that immediately follows another
- sukcesorperson or thing that immediately follows another
- sukcesorkaperson or thing that immediately follows another
- następcanext heir in order or succession
- następczyninext heir in order or succession
- spadkobiercanext heir in order or succession
- spadkobierczyninext heir in order or succession
- dziedzicnext heir in order or succession
- dziedziczkanext heir in order or succession
- sukcesornext heir in order or succession
- sukcesorkanext heir in order or succession
Portuguese sucessor, sucessora
- sucessorperson or thing that immediately follows another
- sucessoraperson or thing that immediately follows another
- sucessornext heir in order or succession
- sucessoranext heir in order or succession
- sucessorperson who inherits a title or office
- sucessoraperson who inherits a title or office
Romanian succesor, succesoare
- succesorperson or thing that immediately follows another
- succesoareperson or thing that immediately follows another
- moștenitorperson who inherits a title or office
Russian прее́мник, прее́мница
- прее́мник (prejémnik)person or thing that immediately follows another
- прее́мница (prejémnica)person or thing that immediately follows another
- насле́дник (naslédnik)next heir in order or succession
- насле́дница (naslédnica)next heir in order or succession
- насле́дник (naslédnik)person who inherits a title or office
- насле́дница (naslédnica)person who inherits a title or office
- правопрее́мник (pravoprejémnik)person who inherits a title or office
- правопрее́мница (pravoprejémnica)person who inherits a title or office
Slovak následník, následníčka
- následníkperson or thing that immediately follows another
- následníčkaperson or thing that immediately follows another
- nástupcaperson or thing that immediately follows another
- nástupkyňaperson or thing that immediately follows another
- dedičnext heir in order or succession
- dedičkanext heir in order or succession
Spanish sucesor, sucesora
- sucesorperson or thing that immediately follows another
- sucesoraperson or thing that immediately follows another
- postremoperson or thing that immediately follows another
- causahabienteperson or thing that immediately follows another
Swedish efterträdare, efterföljare
- efterträdareperson who inherits a title or office
- efterföljareperson who inherits a title or office
Thai ผู้สืบมรดก, ผู้สืบตำแหน่ง
- ผู้สืบมรดกnext heir in order or succession
- ผู้สืบตำแหน่งperson who inherits a title or office
Turkish halef, ardıl
- halefperson or thing that immediately follows another
- ardılperson or thing that immediately follows another
- varisnext heir in order or succession
Ukrainian спадкоє́мець, спадкоє́миця
- спадкоє́мець (spadkojémecʹ)person or thing that immediately follows another
- спадкоє́миця (spadkojémycja)person or thing that immediately follows another
- насту́пник (nastúpnyk)person or thing that immediately follows another
- насту́пниця (nastúpnycja)person or thing that immediately follows another
- наслі́дник (naslídnyk)next heir in order or succession
- наслі́дниця (naslídnycja)next heir in order or succession
- спадкоє́мець (spadkojémecʹ)next heir in order or succession
- спадкоє́миця (spadkojémycja)next heir in order or succession
Urdu وارث
- وارث (vāris)next heir in order or succession
Welsh olynydd, olynyddes
- olynyddperson who inherits a title or office
- olynyddesperson who inherits a title or office
Cite this entry
APA
successor. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/successor
MLA
“successor.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/successor. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “successor,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/successor.
Source: successor on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.