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If the idea of someone succumbing brings to mind the image of a person lying down before more powerful forces, you have an excellent grasp of the Latin that gave Englishsuccumb.Succumb derives from the French wordsuccomber, which is itself from the Latin wordsuccumbere, meaning "to fall down" or "to yield."Succumbere was formed by combiningsub-, meaning "under," with-cumbere, meaning "to lie down." The earliest application ofsuccumb in the late 15th century was as a transitive verb meaning "to bring down" or "to overwhelm," but this sense is now obsolete. The current sense of "to yield" first appeared in print in the early 17th century; the more specific use—yielding to a disease or other destructive force—followed decades later.
Synonyms
yield,submit,capitulate,succumb,relent,defer mean to give way to someone or something that one can no longer resist.
yield may apply to any sort or degree of giving way before force, argument, persuasion, or entreaty.
submit suggests full surrendering after resistance or conflict to the will or control of another.
capitulate stresses the fact of ending all resistance and may imply either a coming to terms (as with an adversary) or hopelessness in the face of an irresistible opposing force.
succumb implies weakness and helplessness to the one that gives way or an overwhelming power to the opposing force.
relent implies a yielding through pity or mercy by one who holds the upper hand.
defer implies a voluntary yielding or submitting out of respect or reverence for or deference and affection toward another.
Examples ofsuccumb in a Sentence
Colin Thubron,New York Times Book Review,9 Apr. 2009Last spring, the Knight Ridder chainsuccumbed to pressure from its largest private investor and sold off its entire lineup of 32 papers to the McClatchy Co. for more than $4 billion.—Eric Klinenberg,Mother Jones,March/April 2007Yet after Paul died in 1978 and his successor John Paul Isuccumbed to a heart attack only 34 days into his papacy, Wojyla was so oblivious to his impending fate that he spent the first day of the new papal conclave nonchalantly browsing through a quarterly review of Marxist theory.—David Van Biema,Time,11 Apr. 2005Interviews with cadets, police officers and investigators trying to crack down on crime inside Mexico City's 80,000-officer force revealed that even the most earnest cops oftensuccumb to the temptations that are both plentiful and low risk.—Alan Zarembo,Newsweek,4 Dec. 2000 They will pressure you, and you must try not tosuccumb. he finallysuccumbed and let his wife get rid of his dilapidated easy chairThe Editors,JSTOR Daily, 2 Apr. 2025Despite the disparity in shots, Eastern Hills held on, but finallysuccumbedto Lake Dallas 4-1.Lake Dallas (15-6-2) moves on and will face undefeated Waxahachie Life (24-0-0) in the area round next week.—Darren Lauber,Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Mar. 2025The boldness of a leader’s decisions can determine whether an organization weathers the storm orsuccumbs.—Benjamin Laker,Forbes, 21 Mar. 2025If Polissuccumbsto leftist pressure and fails to commute the sentence, the magistrate judge in the case should rule on Peters’ petition rapidly.—Mike Davis,The Denver Post, 19 Mar. 2025See All Example Sentences forsuccumbWord History
French & Latin; Frenchsuccomber, from Latinsuccumbere, fromsub- +-cumbere to lie down; akin to Latincubare to lie
1604, in the meaning defined atsense 1
Rhymes forsuccumb
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Cite this Entry
“Succumb.”Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/succumb. Accessed 12 Apr. 2025.
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succumb
verb
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