Success Once Meant Simply What Followed
Success is the achievement of an aim. The word originally meant any outcome, and English quietly dropped the bad half.
Success is achieving what you intended. It was not always so cheerful. In sixteenth-century English you could speak of *ill success*, because the word meant the outcome, whatever it turned out to be. The favourable sense drove out the neutral one, leaving *failure* to cover the other half.
- The achievement of an aim. *A great success.*
- Something that succeeds. *The show was a success.*
- Attainment of fame or wealth. *Success went to his head.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | success | Modest success. |
| Plural | successes | Early successes. |
| Adjective | successful | A successful bid. |
| Adverb | successfully | Successfully completed. |
| Opposite | failure | A costly failure. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The trial was a success.Countable.
- Success depends on the weather.Uncountable.
- Nothing succeeds like success.A proverb about momentum.
How success is measured
- Outcome — did it achieve the aim
- Impact — what difference it made
- Sustainability — whether it lasts
- Survivorship bias — studying only the successes and missing the pattern
- Failure — the other half of the original meaning
From Latin *successus*, an advance or outcome, from *succedere*, to come after. English borrowed it in the sixteenth century with its neutral meaning intact.
What is survivorship bias?
Drawing conclusions only from what survived. Studying successful companies without studying failed ones produces confident and useless advice.
Success or successes?
Uncountable for the general idea, countable for particular achievements: early successes, continued success.