successively

[ suhk-ses-iv-lee ]

adverb

1. in uninterrupted sequence; one after another; consecutively:

   First appointed to the Board of Directors 12 years ago, he has served successively as director, secretary, treasurer, and now, president-elect.

Other Words From

• non·suc·ces·sive·ly adverb
• un·suc·ces·sive·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of successively¹

First recorded in 1400–50; successive ( def ) + -ly ( def )

Example Sentences

Still, I wheeled around and watched a column of spirited Australians being successively and violently deposited into mud and water.

From Slate

Pumpkins have come a long way since then, as Indigenous American communities carefully adapted the wild pumpkin into successively bigger and better-tasting varieties.

From Salon

The head-to-head elimination matches have competitors shooting three arrows in each of five “ends,” with the bull’s-eye equaling 10 points, the outer rings successively less.

From Los Angeles Times

In applying the doctrine, the justices continued, “The crucial determination is whether the two entities that seek successively to prosecute a defendant for the same course of conduct can be termed separate sovereigns. This determination turns on whether the prosecuting entities' powers to undertake criminal prosecutions derive from separate and independent sources.”

From Salon

That said, the authors only hint at obesity as being a culprit of the cancer rate spike, arguing that "the rising cancer incidence for many cancer types in successively younger generations suggests increases in the prevalence of carcinogenic exposures during early life or young adulthood, which have yet to be elucidated."

From Salon

Related Words

• again and again
• generally
• intermittently
• many times
• often
• periodically
• regularly
• time and again
• usually