“Successful” Synonym Guide — Definition, Antonyms, and Examples

An important aspect of learning any language is learning the subtle nuances that each of its words possesses. Especially with the English language, it is essential to know the similar and opposite words of certain terms to express your thoughts clearly. Here is a successful synonym guide to help you get associated with all the synonyms, antonyms, and proper usage of the word.

The Definition of Successful

Based on the dictionary, the word ‘successful‘ is an adjective. The noun form is ‘success,’ and the verb form is ‘succeed.’ The term successful refers to having achieved fame, status, or any other tangible or intangible thing that a person may wish to achieve.

Example Sentences:

  • I wish you a successful career.
  • He was just as successful as his brother in terms of academics.
  • All her life, she just wanted to be successful.
  • He was finally successful in getting his dream job.
  • We were successful in finalizing the deal.
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Successful Synonym — Exploring Words with Similar Meanings

Some similar terms for the word Successful include victorious, fortunate, profitable, prosperous, and fruitful.

Victorious

Victorious originates from the Latin victoria. The term refers to being triumphant or successful. When a person achieves the highest rank or championship, they are said to be victorious.

  • He finally stood victorious at the end of the race.
  • He came out victorious in the chess tournament.

Fortunate

Fortunate originates from the Latin fortunatus, which means “prosperous or lucky.” To be fortunate refers to having good luck or being favored. It can also relate to being well off materialistically.

  • You are fortunate enough to have both parents.
  • I was very fortunate to have survived the accident.

Profitable

The word ‘profitable’ comes from the Old French verb profite. Profitable can mean beneficial or useful. In financial terms, it means yielding a good amount of net revenue or other financial gains.

  • The business was very profitable from the start.
  • Having him on our team would be profitable for us.

Prosperous

The word ‘prosperous’ originates from the Latin prosperus, which means “doing well.” Prosperous means to become successful in terms of material gains. If a person flourishes financially, they are said to be prosperous.

  • He was a prosperous man, and we didn’t expect that to change.
  • We wish you a prosperous New Year.

Fruitful

The word ‘fruitful’ means productive. It refers to bringing about a beneficial or successful result in something.

  • Our research proved to be fruitful.
  • The internet can be a fruitful source of knowledge.

Successful Antonyms — Exploring Words with Opposite Meanings

Successful antonym examples are unsuccessful, unpromising, bankrupt, failing, and unproductive.

Unsuccessful

Unsuccessful‘ is an adjective that means “lack of success.” The definition of unsuccessful is to fail or produce unusable results and generally failing to produce success.

  • His new business venture turned out to be unsuccessful.
  • We were unsuccessful in our mission.

Unpromising

Unpromising‘ refers to a lack of hope in an outcome or productive results. If something is unlikely to produce any favorable or useful results, it is said to be unpromising.

  • The future of the business was unpromising.
  • The entire plan got off to an unpromising start.

Bankrupt

The word ‘bankrupt’ has varying origins. But most experts agree that the word ‘bank’ comes from mid-century English and rupt comes from Latin, which means “broken.” Bankrupt is when someone or a business is unable to pay off its debts.

  • The business had gone bankrupt within a month.
  • I will become bankrupt if I don’t start saving money now.

Failing

‘Failing’ comes from the word failure, which originates from the Anglo-Norman French failer. Failing refers to a fault or weakness for which something cannot be attained. It also means the absence of something.

  • Their main failing was arrogance.
  • Failing any unforeseen circumstances, we will move on with the trial.

Unproductive

The word ‘unproductive’ means a lack of productivity. Not being able to produce a decent amount of results, goods, commodities, etc., refers to being unproductive.

  • I’ve been unproductive at work all week.
  • The meeting was unproductive and a waste of time.

To Wrap Up

This successful synonym guide is meant to help you learn the usage, synonyms, antonyms, and other associated words of the term successful.

Learning this and practicing it will help you apply your knowledge in writing and make all of your pieces more successful. While this article outlines the most common related words to ‘successful,’ you can find many more in a Thesaurus.

Pam is an expert grammarian with years of experience teaching English, writing and ESL Grammar courses at the university level. She is enamored with all things language and fascinated with how we use words to shape our world.

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