A successor is the person or thing that comes next, taking the place of what came before. When a principal retires, their successor is the new principal who takes over running the school. When a company's CEO steps down, the board chooses a successor to lead the company forward.

A successor doesn't just fill an empty spot: they inherit responsibilities, continue work that's already begun, and often face the challenge of living up to what came before. When George Washington finished his presidency, John Adams became his successor, facing the difficult task of following the nation's first president.

You'll also see this word describing things that replace earlier versions. The iPhone 12 was the successor to the iPhone 11. Each new model succeeds the previous one, hopefully improving on what came before.

The opposite of a successor is a predecessor, the person or thing that came before. Understanding both words helps you talk about chains of leadership, sequences of products, or any situation where one thing follows another in an orderly way. When someone proves to be a worthy successor, they honor what their predecessor built while adding their own contributions.