prosper

B2 Topic:Actions & Processes

US /ˈpɹɑspɚ/ UK /ˈpɹɒspə(ɹ)/ See IPA manual

Freq #13946

Meanings

1

verb
To be successful and do well, especially financially.

The business prospered after they opened a second shop.
2

verb
To make steady progress and grow stronger.

Under good leadership, the town began to prosper.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to be successful and do... flourish thrive

2 verb · to make steady progress and... flourish

More gain grow succeed

Opposites

decline fail fall

Word family

Forms prosperedprosperingprospers

Derived forms prospererprosperinglyprosperityprosperlessprosperousunprospered

Etymology

From Old French prosperer, from Latin prosperō (“to render happy”), from prosperus (“prosperous”), from Proto-Italic *prosparos, from Proto-Indo-European *speh₁- (“to succeed”), whence also Latin spēs (“hope, expectation”).

*speh₁- Proto-Indo-European prosperer Old French prosperō Latin *prosparos Proto-Italic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# prosper

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈpɹɑspɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈpɹɒspə(ɹ)/
**Frequency rank:** 13946

## Meanings
1. To be successful and do well, especially financially.
2. To make steady progress and grow stronger.

## Examples
- The business prospered after they opened a second shop.
- Under good leadership, the town began to prosper.

## Synonyms
- flourish
- gain
- grow
- succeed
- thrive

## Antonyms
- decline
- fail
- fall

## Derived Forms
- prosperer
- prosperingly
- prosperity
- prosperless
- prosperous
- unprospered

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *speh₁-
- Root: prosperer
- Root: prosperō
- Root: *prosparos

## Etymology
From Old French prosperer, from Latin prosperō (“to render happy”), from prosperus (“prosperous”), from Proto-Italic *prosparos, from Proto-Indo-European *speh₁- (“to succeed”), whence also Latin spēs (“hope, expectation”).

## AI Etymology
Prosper comes from Old French prosperer, from Latin prosperō (“to render happy”), from prosperus (“prosperous”), from Proto-Italic *prosparos, from Proto-Indo-European *speh₁- (“to succeed”), whence also Latin spēs (“hope, expectation”). In present-day English it covers to be successful and do well, especially financially and to make steady progress and grow stronger. The wider family includes derived forms such as prosperer, prosperingly, prosperity, prosperless, prosperous.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

markdown