episode

American  

[ep-uh-sohd, -zohd] / ˈɛp əˌsoʊd, -ˌzoʊd /

noun

1. an incident in the course of a series of events, in a person's life or experience, etc.

   Synonyms:

   happening

2. an incident, scene, etc., within a narrative, usually fully developed and either integrated within the main story or digressing from it.

3. one of a number of loosely connected, but usually thematically related, scenes or stories constituting a literary work.

4. epeisodion.

5. Music. an intermediate or digressive passage, especially in a contrapuntal composition.

6. Movies, Radio, and Television. any one of the separate productions that constitute a serial.

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episode British  

/ ˈɛpɪˌsəʊd /

noun

1. an incident, event, or series of events

2. any one of the sections into which a serialized novel or radio or television programme is divided

3. an incident, sequence, or scene that forms part of a narrative but may be a digression from the main story

4. (in ancient Greek tragedy) a section between two choric songs

5. music a contrasting section between statements of the subject, as in a fugue or rondo

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Usage

What does episode mean? Episode most generally refers to a specific incident in a continuous series of events, an occurrence of a recurring event, or an installment or entry in a series. Episode is perhaps most popularly used in a more specific way to refer to one of the parts that a TV series is divided into, as in I’ve seen every single episode of The Office. Such episodes are often like chapters of a larger story, though each one may be unrelated other than being part of the same series. This sense of the word can also be applied to other forms of entertainment, especially ones you watch or listen to, such as podcasts, radio shows, or video series. (In contrast, parts in a periodical series, such as a comic book, aren’t commonly called episodes but are instead referred to with other terms, such as issue or edition.)More generally, episode can refer to a particular part of a story or narrative, such as a scene or sequence within a novel. In the context of real life, the word episode can refer to a specific period in a person’s life, especially one that’s distinct, such as due to being a life-changing or defining experience, as in The year that we moved to a new city was one of the particularly memorable episodes of my childhood. This sense of episode means something like a chapter in the story of someone’s life. The word can also refer to an instance of experiencing something that’s recurring, such as a medical or mental health issue, as in The patient has a history of depressive episodes. The adjective episodic can be used to describe things that occur occasionally or things that are divided into episodes. Example: The show’s final episode is scheduled to air on Thursday night.

Related Words

See event.

Etymology

Origin of episode

First recorded in 1670–80; from Greek epeisódion “addition, parenthetic narrative, episode,” noun use of neuter of epeisódios “coming in addition,” equivalent to ep- ep- + eísod(os) “entrance” ( eis- “into” + (h)odós “road, way”) + -ios adjective suffix

Explanation

Think of your favorite TV show. It runs all year long, in weekly installments. Each of those individual programs is an episode, one part of a long series. Episode, a term from Greek tragedy, refers to a section of a story. In the 19th century, Charles Dickens published chapters of his novels in weekly magazines, episodes that together made a novel. You can also use the word for events in your own life: "That was an unpleasant episode," when you're remembering a family fight, or, "Grandpa had a fainting episode." With the fighting and fainting, you can hope they're episodes, not the whole story.

Example Sentences

The episode quickly spread online, not as a moment of confusion for long, but as a punchline — largely because Fox himself framed it that way.

From Salon • Apr. 11, 2026

In the Slate Plus bonus episode, Mark unpacks what went down during the birthright citizenship oral arguments at the Supreme Court with Evan Bernick, a co-author of a key amicus brief in the Barbara v.

From Slate • Apr. 9, 2026

Each episode of season 3 cost between $10 million and $15 million, according to a person familiar with the matter, an increase from the first two seasons.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

Each episode, The Repair Shop features different people having personal loved pieces restored by expert craftspeople.

From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026

The creators of one recipe will be his guests on an upcoming episode of Let's Get Cooking!'

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

Related Words

• chapter
• event
• experience
• incident
• installment
• matter
• thing