succumb

succumb

 
verb|suh-KUM
 
What It Means
 
Succumbing is about yielding to something: someone who succumbs to a pressure or emotion stops trying to resist that pressure or emotion, and someone who succumbs to an injury or disease dies because of that injury or disease. The word is often followed by to.
 
// The program aims to help kids develop the strength of character required to avoid succumbing to peer pressure.
 
// Many patients diagnosed with the disease live healthy lives for years before succumbing to it.


 succumb
verb
suc·;cumb s;-;k;m
succumbed; succumbing; succumbs
Synonyms of succumb
intransitive verb

1
: to yield to superior strength or force or overpowering appeal or desire
succumb to temptation
2
: to be brought to an end (such as death) by the effect of destructive or disruptive forces


Did you know?
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 English succumb. Succumb derives from the French word succomber, which is itself from the Latin word succumbere, meaning "to fall down" or "to yield." Succumbere was formed by combining sub-, meaning "under," with -cumbere, meaning "to lie down." The earliest application of succumb 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
submit
concede
surrender
budge
bow
Choose the Right Synonym for succumb

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.

yields too easily in any argument
submit suggests full surrendering after resistance or conflict to the will or control of another.

a repentant sinner vowing to submit to the will of God
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.

officials capitulated to the protesters' demands
succumb implies weakness and helplessness to the one that gives way or an overwhelming power to the opposing force.

a stage actor succumbing to the lure of Hollywood
relent implies a yielding through pity or mercy by one who holds the upper hand.

finally relented and let the children stay up late
defer implies a voluntary yielding or submitting out of respect or reverence for or deference and affection toward another.

I defer to your expertise in these matters
Examples of succumb in a Sentence
Lepanto occupies a curious military fault line between ancient and modern. It was fought with galleys almost identical to those that had clashed in this same gulf sixteen centuries before, when the ships of Antony and Cleopatra succumbed to those of Octavian at the Battle of Actium.
—Colin Thubron, New York Times Book Review, 9 Apr. 2009
Last spring, the Knight Ridder chain succumbed 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 2007
Yet after Paul died in 1978 and his successor John Paul I succumbed 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. 2005
Interviews 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 often succumb to the temptations that are both plentiful and low risk.
—Alan Zarembo, Newsweek, 4 Dec. 2000
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
When Day succumbs to his wounds, Dusk seizes the vacuum, claiming Hari Seldon’s psychohistory crystal.
—Jp Mangalindan, Time, 12 Sep. 2025
More members of the FDNY have succumbed to 9/11 illness than were killed on the day of the attack.
—Nick Mordowanec, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Sep. 2025
Army Archerd of Variety shocked Hollywood in breaking the story that Rock Hudson was succumbing to AIDS.
—Peter Bart, Deadline, 11 Sep. 2025
What was weird was that this snake had raised its head and spread a hood before succumbing to the gardening implement (which was definitely not normal for Missouri).
—Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 10 Sep. 2025

Word History
Etymology
French & Latin; French succomber, from Latin succumbere, from sub- + -cumbere to lie down; akin to Latin cubare to lie

First Known Use
1604, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of succumb was in 1604
See more words from the same year