From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishonly succeed in doing somethingonly succeed in doing somethingused when someone does the opposite of what they intended to do It seems I’ve only succeeded in upsetting you. → succeed
Examples from the Corpus
only succeed in doing something• However, the utterance only succeeds in having this function if certain external conditions are fulfilled.• It's always been a Dark Force, and you've only succeeded in harnessing a minuscule aspect of it.• Laws against abortion only succeed in making it painful and dangerous.• Revolutions only succeed in Britain if they pretend to be fondly restoring the past, not accelerating change.• She tried to get out of it, but only succeeded in making herself the last to sing.• Triumphant Rome tried to exterminate the Church of Mary, but only succeeded in driving it underground.• We shall only succeed in dealing with the problems through a vast international cooperative effort. 