Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Succession \Suc*ces"sion\, n. [L. successio: cf. F. succession.
   See {Succeed}.]
   1. The act of succeeding, or following after; a following of
      things in order of time or place, or a series of things so
      following; sequence; as, a succession of good crops; a
      succession of disasters.

   2. A series of persons or things according to some
      established rule of precedence; as, a succession of kings,
      or of bishops; a succession of events in chronology.

            He was in the succession to an earldom. --Macaulay.

   3. An order or series of descendants; lineage; race; descent.
      ``A long succession must ensue.'' --Milton.

   4. The power or right of succeeding to the station or title
      of a father or other predecessor; the right to enter upon
      the office, rank, position, etc., held ny another; also,
      the entrance into the office, station, or rank of a
      predecessor; specifically, the succeeding, or right of
      succeeding, to a throne.

            You have the voice of the king himself for your
            succession in Denmark.                --Shak.

            The animosity of these factions did not really arise
            from the dispute about the succession. --Macaulay.

   5. The right to enter upon the possession of the property of
      an ancestor, or one near of kin, or one preceding in an
      established order.

   6. The person succeeding to rank or office; a successor or
      heir. [R.] --Milton.

   {Apostolical succession}. (Theol.) See under {Apostolical}.
      

   {Succession duty}, a tax imposed on every succession to
      property, according to its value and the relation of the
      person who succeeds to the previous owner.

Source : WordNet®

succession
     n 1: a following of one thing after another in time; "the doctor
          saw a sequence of patients" [syn: {sequence}, {chronological
          sequence}, {successiveness}, {chronological succession}]
     2: a group of people or things arranged or following in order;
        "a succession of stalls offering soft drinks"; "a
        succession of failures"
     3: the action of following in order; "he played the trumps in
        sequence" [syn: {sequence}]
     4: (ecology) the gradual and orderly process of change in an
        ecosystem brought about by the progressive replacement of
        one community by another until a stable climax is
        established [syn: {ecological succession}]
     5: acquisition of property by descent or by will [syn: {taking
        over}]