1. To lose one's will to oppose something and to give up and accept anything that was first opposed to: After a vigorous debate about a new casino in the city, the mayor, Mr. Anderson, finally succumbed to the opinion of the majority of other officials.
2. To be reluctant to yield or to give into a change in one’s situation or condition: Andre fears that he must succumb to the wishes of his family and move from the city out into the country.
3. To use a less offensive term of stating that someone is dying: The young woman succumbed to the fatal injuries she had suffered in the car crash.

In the context of a sickness, to succumb to an illness is to stop opposing it, to no longer battle it, but to give up and to die from it.

4. Etymology: from Latin succumbere, "to fall down, to sink down, to lie under, to yield."

From Latin sub, "down" + -cumbere, "to take a reclining position."

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