Succumb

//səˈkʌm// verb

verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To yield to an overpowering force or overwhelming desire. intransitive

    "succumb to temptation"

  2. 2
    consent reluctantly wordnet
  3. 3
    To give up, or give in. intransitive
  4. 4
    be fatally overwhelmed wordnet
  5. 5
    To die. euphemistic, intransitive

    "succumb to pneumonia"

Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    To overwhelm or bring down. transitive

    "He has not allowed the burn and his subsequent injury to succumb him, but to make him forever different but also, I think, forever better."

Synonyms

All synonyms
yieldabandonaccedeacceptacquiesceassent

Example

More examples

"He was weak enough to succumb to temptation."

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *upó Proto-Italic *supo Latin sub Latin sub- Proto-Indo-European *ḱewb- Proto-Italic *kumbō Latin *cumbō Latin succumbere Old French succomberbor. English succumb From Old French succomber, from Latin succumbō.

Related phrases

bring downgive ingive up

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.