success

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Favorable termination

Nouns

1. success, successfulness; good fortune, luck, run of luck; prosperity; accomplishment (see completion); one's finest hour.

2. (financial success) great success, land-office business; hit, stroke [of luck], breakthrough, windfall; [lucky] strike; master stroke, coup de maître; all-time high; checkmate; half the battle, prize; trump card. Informal, smash [hit]; sleeper, dark horse; fast track; cash cow.

3. (other success) victory, triumph, advantage; landslide, runaway, sweep; upper or whip hand; ascendance, ascendancy, superiority; expugnation, conquest, subjugation, subjection.

4. winner, champion; conqueror, conquistador, victor; master of the situation, king of the mountain. Slang, boss player, roller.

Verbs

1. succeed; be successful, gain one's end or ends, make the grade; crown with success; gain, carry, or win a point; manage to, contrive to; accomplish, effect (see completion); do or work wonders; score a success, make one's mark, win one's laurels or spurs, get to first base; deliver the goods. Informal, pan out, click, make a go of, cut the mustard, pull off, come off, go over, make out, bring home the bacon. Slang, set the world on fire, get on like a house on fire, hack it, go great guns.

2. (succeed financially) make progress, advance, get ahead, go places, go to town; win, make, or find one's way; prosper (see prosperity); reap the fruits or benefit of; reap or gather the harvest; make one's fortune, turn to good account. Informal, hit one's stride, do a land-office business, cook on the front burner. Slang, sell like hotcakes; wow them, knock 'em dead.

3. (succeed in contest) win, prevail, triumph, be triumphant; gain or obtain a victory or advantage; master; get or have the best or better of; get or have the upper hand, ascendancy, or whip hand; distance, surpass (see superiority); come off well, rise to the occasion, come off with flying colors; make short work of; take or carry by storm; win out; win one's spurs; win the battle; win or carry the day, win or gain the prize or palm; have the best of it, have it all one's own way, call the turn, set the pace, have the world at one's feet; carry all before one, remain in possession of the field; bear or carry off the palm. Informal, come through. Slang, win in a walk; romp home; score standing up, walk off with, bat a thousand.

4. (overcome an opponent) defeat, conquer, vanquish, discomfit; overcome, overthrow, overpower, overmaster, overmatch, overset, override, overreach; outwit, outdo, outflank, outmaneuver, outgeneral, outvote; take the wind out of one's sails; beat, rout, lick, drub, floor, best, worst, dispose of; put down, put to flight or rout, run into the ground, pin one's ears back; shout down; bring to terms (see submission); edge out; snow under. Informal, nose out, polish off. Slang, whip, trash, beat all hollow, clobber, mop the floor with, ace out.

5. (overcome a problem) surmount or overcome a difficulty or obstacle; make headway against; stem the torrent, tide, or current; weather the storm; turn a corner, keep one's head above water, tide over.

6. (succeed in solving a problem) answer [the purpose], avail, take effect, do, turn out well, work well, take, tell, bear fruit; hit the mark, hit the nail on the head; turn up trumps, make a hit; find one's account in. Informal, do or turn the trick, bring down the house, kill two birds with one stone. Slang, take the cake.

Adjectives — succeeding, successful, fortunate; prosperous (see prosperity); triumphant; flushed or crowned with success, at the top of the tree, on the crest of the wave; victorious; set up, in the ascendant; unbeaten; felicitous, effective. Informal, in like Flynn. Slang, like a mojo, cooking [with gas], on a roll.

Adverbs — successfully, with flying colors, in triumph, swimmingly.

Phrases — he that will thrive must first ask his wife; nothing succeeds like success; the only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary; a rising tide lifts all boats; if you can't beat 'em, join 'em; win a few, lose a few.

Quotations — The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul (Bible), I shall be like that tree, I shall die at the top (Jonathan Swift), I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole (Benjamin Disraeli), Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result (Oscar Wilde), All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure (Mark Twain), Success is relative: it is what we can make of the mess we have made of things (T. S. Eliot), If A is a success in life, then A equals X plus Y plus Z. Work is X; Y is play; and Z is keeping your mouth shut (Albert Einstein), Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies (Gore Vidal), In war there is no substitute for victory (General Douglas MacArthur), All's well that ends well (Shakespeare).

Antonyms, see failure.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [The fact of succeeding]

Syn. achieving, gaining, prospering, attaining, accomplishing, progressing, advancing, triumphing, making a fortune, finishing, completion, consummation, doing, culmination, conclusion, termination, resolution, completion, end, attainment, realization, maturation, breakthrough, victory, triumph, accomplishment, benefiting, profiting, having good luck, being out in front*, making a noise in the world*, making a ten strike*.

Ant. failure*, disappointment, failing.

2. [The fact of having succeeded to a high degree]

Syn. fortune, good luck, achievement, gain, benefit, prosperity, victory, advance, attainment, progress, profit, prosperous issue, the life of Riley, bed of roses, favorable outcome.

Ant. defeat*, loss, disaster.

3. [A successful person or thing]

Syn. celebrity, famous person, leader, authority, master, expert, man of fortune, somebody*, star*, gallery hit*, bell-ringer*, VIP*, tops*, smash*, worldbeater*.

Ant. failure*, loser, nonentity.

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

fulfillment, accomplishment, achievement, attainment, realization, reaching one's goals, arrival, triumph, win, victory, *big time, hit, *smash, *succes d'estime, fame and fortune, winner, sensation, good fortune, prosperity, wealth, riches, *Easy Street, blockbuster. ''The reward of toil.''—Sophocles. ''Not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. —Reginald Leach. ''The child of audacity. —Benjamin Disraeli. ''The bitch-goddess. —William James.

ANT.: failure, defeat, *bombing, *washout, nonfulfillment

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted: arrival, successfulness. See THRIVE.