succesive

Succesive is a nonstandard or rarely used spelling of the English adjective successive. In modern English, the preferred form is successive. The word describes things that follow one another in time or order.

Meaning and usage

Successive refers to elements that come in a sequence, one after another. It is commonly used to describe events, steps, or items in a series. In mathematical and technical writing, successive is used to denote an ordered progression from one term to the next. Some contexts distinguish consecutive, which often implies immediate adjacency, whereas successive emphasizes order and progression and may allow gaps.

Etymology

The term derives from Latin and French roots related to following or coming after. The modern spelling success ive mirrors this lineage, with the -ive suffix forming the adjective.

Examples

Examples include “the first three successive days,” “successive terms of a sequence,” and “successive approximations in an iterative method.” In many contexts, especially everyday language, the words successive and consecutive are used interchangeably, but stylistic guides may prefer one term to convey immediacy (consecutive) or a broader sequence (successive).

Spelling note

Scholarly and reference works typically list succesive as a misspelling or historical variant of successive. Writers are generally advised to use successive in contemporary English, while noting that older texts or certain regional usages may appear with the alternative spelling.

See also

Consecutive, sequence, succession, sequential, succession, successive approximation.