successively
Americanadverb
-
in uninterrupted sequence; one after another; consecutively.
First appointed to the Board of Directors 12 years ago, he has served successively as director, secretary, treasurer, and now, president-elect.
Other Word Forms
- nonsuccessively adverb
- unsuccessively adverb
Etymology
Origin of successively
First recorded in 1400–50; successive ( def. ) + -ly ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Most cases went 5 to 4 with majorities shifting successively on each side.
From Slate • Jan. 15, 2026
That report, arriving about three weeks later than usual, will be refined in two successively more accurate estimates in the months that follow, in accordance with the BEA’s usual practice.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 7, 2026
The last decade has seen a harlequinade of big shots, celebrities, pundits and politicians bounding across the proscenium wearing stage makeup and playing different characters successively, like Peter Sellers in “Dr. Strangelove.”
From Salon • Dec. 20, 2025
That success made Real the first team from any nation to lift the trophy three times successively in the Champions League era.
From BBC • Nov. 26, 2025
The ancestors of modern speakers of Thai, Lao, and Burmese all moved south from South China and adjacent areas to their present locations within historical times, successively inundating the settled descendants of previous migrations.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.