successive

successive — adjective

1. coming or happening one right after another in a series, with nothing different

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

coming or happening one right after another in a series, with nothing different happening in between

Example

The basketball team won three successive games and reached the final.

collocation: successive + games (countable events)

Ezra was late for work on three successive mornings, worrying his manager.

collocation: successive + mornings / time periods

Common collocations
  • successive + years / days / weeks / months / quarters
  • successive + victories / wins / defeats / losses
  • successive + governments / administrations / leaders
  • successive + attempts / efforts / tries
  • successive + generations
Synonyms
  • consecutive

    Interchangeable in most contexts; 'consecutive' is slightly more common in everyday speech.

  • straight

    Informal alternative used after numbers: 'three straight wins'.

  • running

    Informal; used after time periods: 'three years running'.

Antonyms
  • intermittent

    Happening with breaks or pauses between events.

  • alternating

    Following a regular pattern of two different things in turn, not a string of the same thing.

Grammar Patterns

successive + noun

Usage Note

Only used directly before a noun (attributive position). Cannot be used after linking verbs: 'The victories were successive' is incorrect — use 'consecutive' or 'in a row' instead.

Common Mistakes

It rained for successive three days.
It rained for three successive days.
The number or quantity word comes before 'successive', not after it.
The defeats were successive and the team lost hope.
The team suffered three successive defeats and lost hope.
'successive' cannot be used after 'be' as a subject complement.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Successive and consecutive are the most formal and are interchangeable in nearly all contexts ('three successive/consecutive days'). Consecutive is slightly more common in everyday spoken English, while successive appears more often in formal writing and news reporting. Straight and running are informal alternatives. Straight goes after a number and before the noun ('five straight wins') and is common in sports and informal speech. Running follows a time expression at the end of a clause ('for the third year running') and sounds slightly more British than American. All four describe things in unbroken sequence, but choose successive or consecutive for academic or professional writing, and straight or running for casual conversation.

consecutive ↗successive ↗straight ↗running ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • years / days / weeks / months / quarters — the most common time nouns paired with successive
  • wins / victories / defeats / losses — used in sports and competition contexts
  • governments / administrations / leaders — used in political contexts

Phrases

  • three successive + noun — the most common pattern with a number
  • the + ordinal + successive + noun — e.g. 'the fifth successive year'
  • for the + ordinal + successive + time — e.g. 'for the second successive time'

Prepositions

  • successive + noun + of — e.g. 'successive years of drought'
  • for + ordinal + successive + noun — e.g. 'for the third successive month'

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Successive comes from the Latin word 'successivus', meaning 'following after'. This in turn comes from 'succedere' (to go after, follow), formed from 'sub-' (up to, near) and 'cedere' (to go, yield). The same root gives us 'succeed' (in its original sense of 'follow after'), 'succession', and 'successor'. The word entered English in the 1400s and has been used to describe things that follow one after another ever since.