The Definition Of Success In Today's Society

The Definition Success
Ever since the times of the BC era, wealth had defined success (Definition of Success). A wealthy person of those times would be looked at as a superior being, they would be someone you’d show respect for. They were successful. Although that's the definition of success back then, does it mean something different now? Like every human being, and every past structure of society, the word evolves with time because society's’ values change. The definition of the word “success” was often considered as the achievement of wealth, but now it has become modernized to fit into today's society. Today, success is thought as an individual doing what makes them happy in life, generally doing their best, or even contributing positive things to the world to make it a better place (What does success mean).

According to Anne Curzan, a language historian, it's important to note that humans make dictionaries, therefore a dictionary only provides the opinions of the most commonly used meanings of a word. It's not a set list of “right definitions” because people use them differently for how they see fit. Words’ meanings can evolve over time due to slang usage and the influence of other languages and cultures. When a bigger group of people discover a slang version of a word, it might become popular, which could make that the most common meaning for the word. Also, a word in one society might mean something completely different in another society. If languages or cultures intertwine with others, then the common definitions used might change with it. All of this can contribute to the evolution of a word's meaning, and this is acceptable because even though words may change over time, so does the language as a whole