Meaning & use
successful
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Having achieved an intended result, aim, or standard.
Grammar: Used before nouns and after linking verbs; not usually graded with more successful in this result sense.
Patterns
- successful attempt
- successful outcome
- prove successful
The first transplant was successful, and the patient recovered well.
A successful search ended when the missing dog came home at dawn.
We need a successful test before the product launches.
adjectivenot comparable
Achieving wealth, fame, recognition, or a high position in work or public life.
Grammar: Describes people, careers, or ventures; often modified by highly or very.
Patterns
- successful career
- successful entrepreneur
- highly successful
After years of practice, she became a successful surgeon.
He is a successful restaurateur with three busy locations.
The scholarship helped many students build successful careers.
Common combinations
- highly successful
- The vaccine drive was highly successful in rural clinics.
- successful outcome
- Negotiations ended in a successful outcome for both unions.
- successful career
- She planned a successful career in renewable energy.
- successful launch
- A successful launch brought orders within the first week.
Synonyms and how they differ
- effective
- Effective means producing the desired result; successful can also imply reward, status, or completion.
- prosperous
- Prosperous stresses financial well-being more than achieving one goal.
- accomplished
- Accomplished describes skill and achievement in a person, often artistic or professional.
Opposites
Word family
- success noun
- The achievement of a goal or favorable result.
- successfully adverb
- In a way that achieves the intended result.
- succeed verb
- To achieve a desired aim or outcome.
Commonly confused: successful or successive?
successful vs successive
Successful means achieving results; successive means following one after another.
Practice
Which sentence uses successful in the sense of achieving an intended result?
Choose one answer.
The operation achieves the intended medical result; a collector shows status, successive means consecutive, and a smile is not an aim achieved.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “successful”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.