succumb
pronunciation
How to pronounce succumb in British English:
UK [səˈkʌm]
How to pronounce succumb in American English:
US [səˈkʌm]
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- Verb:
- consent reluctantly
- be fatally overwhelmed
Word Origin
- succumb
- succumb: [15] Someone who succumbs to something is etymologically ‘lying down under’ it. The word comes via Old French succomber from Latin succumbere, a compound verb formed from the prefix sub- ‘under’ and -cumbere ‘lie’. This verbal element also produced English incumbent and recumbent, and the non-nasalized version of its stem lies behind covey, incubate, incubus, and succubus.=> covey, incubate, incumbent, recumbent
- succumb (v.)
- late 15c., from Old French succomber "succumb, die, lose one's (legal) case," and directly from Latin succumbere "submit, surrender, yield, be overcome; sink down; lie under; cohabit with," from sub "down" (see sub-) + -cumbere "take a reclining position," related to cubare "lie down" (see cubicle). Originally transitive; sense of "sink under pressure" is first recorded c. 1600. As a euphemism for "to die," from 1849. Related: Succumbed; succumbing.
Example
- 1. Whatever you do , don 't succumb to it .
- 2. We will not succumb to inflationary pressures coming from outside .
- 3. In reality , of course , all their bloodletting did was make the patient weaker , and more likely to succumb .
- 4. This change in tactics created enough pressure inside the ruling inner circle to force milosevic to succumb .
- 5. But before we succumb to digital idolatry , we should consider that innovation often comes at a price .