- succeed
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Analogous words: displace, supplant, "replace, supersedeAntonyms: precede2 Succeed, prosper, thrive, flourish can mean to attain or to be attaining a desired end.Succeed (see also FOLLOW) implies little more than this. Both persons and things succeed when they are effective in gaining their purposes or ends, in particular or in general; the term implies an antithesis to fail{
the teaching that fosters these ends succeeds; the teaching which neglects them fails— Suzzallo
}{the little man had succeeded in disturbing the boy with his absurd proposal— Dahi
}{the revolt against the tyranny of mathematics and physics is justified by the fact that these sciences have not succeeded in explaining the phenomena of life— Inge
}Prosper carries an implication of continued or long-continuing success; it usually also suggests increasing success. Only through the context is it clear whether the success is in the continuation or the increase of health, of wealth, or of well- being{prosper in business
}{Milenka was soon prospering. His coat came in soft and shining; his purr cleared and his eyes lost the milkiness that had clouded them— Stafford
}{did all the naughty things little . . . children were punished for, did them and prospered in body and mind— Lillian Smith
}Thrive adds the implication of vigorous growth; it often also implies succeeding noticeably because of or in spite of conditions or circumstances stipulated by the context{plants that thrive in an acid soil
}{he worked hard and his business thrived
}{the children throve under good care and proper feeding
}{like most great revolutionaries he could thrive only in evil times— Shirer
}{states thrive or wither as moons wax and wane— Cowper
}Flourish implies a period of vigorous growth and expansion (as in an institution, a business, an art, or a science) at or towards the peak of development or productivity and without signs of decay or decadence; it carries no suggestion of how far this growth will be maintained and sometimes by implication hints at a future decline{if physics and chemistry and biology have flourished, morals, religion, and aesthetics have withered— Krutch
}{a pleasant white-haired widow surrounded by many potted plants that seemed to bloom and flourish in the fertile climate of her disposition— Cheever
}{the sciences cannot fully flourish, and may be badly damaged, in a society which gives an increasing share of its resources to military purposes— Science
}It is also used of an individual to indicate the period of his prime or time of high success{Spenser and Fairfax both flourished in the reign of Queen Elizabeth— Dryden
}Antonyms: fail: attempt
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
