1. A sequence of people or things coming one after the other in time: The school children entered the school building in succession, one little group following the next one that just got off the school bus.
2. The following of one thing after another: Yesterday, the school's baseball team had five wins in succession.
3. The right to take up a position or title: In many countries there is a long history of successions to the throne to be king or queen, depending on the relationship of the members in the royal family.
4. The series of changes that create a full-fledged plant and animal community; for example, from the colonization of bare ground to the establishment of a forest: The biological succession in nature can be seen when a forest fire destroys the trees and vegetation in an area, which is then followed by new plants securing their former living conditions, followed again by more plants and animals, until life continues as it was before the fire.
5. Etymology: from Old French succession, from Latin successionem, successio, "a following after, a coming into another's place, a result"; from successus, past participle of succedere, "to come after, to go near to", from sub, "next to, after" + cedere, "to go, to move".

A following of one thing or person after another in time: Jane was new in the huge family of eleven people, so she wrote down the names in chronological succession starting with the oldest of the children to the youngest.