Are 'consecutively' and 'successively' the same? [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
What's the difference between “successive” and “consecutive”?

Are 'consecutively' and 'successively' the same? Can they be used in place of each other freely? Does 'for 3 days consecutively..' and 'for 3 days successively..' mean the same ?

Answer 1

Overall, yes consecutively and successively are equivalent.

On closer examination, there is a slight difference though. In consecutively, there is no gap. In successively there is just some order.

For instance "in close/short succession" is sometimes preferred to "in succession" to emphasize consecutiveness.

For instance:

• 1, 2 and 3 are consecutive numbers

• 1, 2 and 4 are successive numbers but they are not consecutive.

So for non discrete quantities you would probably prefer "successive" (as in "successive events") and for discrete quantities with no gaps you could use "consecutive" as in "2 consecutive days".

Answer 2

I would quite confidently say that there is no difference; they both mean to follow in an uninterrupted order and to follow closely after another.

Interestingly:

Latin 'consectus' means 'followed closely'

Latin 'success' means 'followed closely'

Hope this helps

Answer 3

They have the same meaning and are both adverbs, but consecutively stresses immediacy in following and implies that no interruption or interval occurs:

four consecutive days

Successively may apply to things of the same kind or class that follow each other regardless of length of interval between:

four successive weekends