episode
Americannoun
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an incident in the course of a series of events, in a person's life or experience, etc.
- Synonyms:
- happening
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an incident, scene, etc., within a narrative, usually fully developed and either integrated within the main story or digressing from it.
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one of a number of loosely connected, but usually thematically related, scenes or stories constituting a literary work.
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Music. an intermediate or digressive passage, especially in a contrapuntal composition.
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Movies, Radio, and Television. any one of the separate productions that constitute a serial.
noun
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an incident, event, or series of events
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any one of the sections into which a serialized novel or radio or television programme is divided
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an incident, sequence, or scene that forms part of a narrative but may be a digression from the main story
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(in ancient Greek tragedy) a section between two choric songs
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music a contrasting section between statements of the subject, as in a fugue or rondo
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
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And this episode in the three-part Vice sports series “Out of Bounds” will likely have the effect of a figurative custard pie in the face of the heavily armed and coercive DraftKings-FanDuel-powered juggernaut.
“Powell was basically saying he sees the whole episode as nonsense and he’s had enough of it,” said Ian Katz, managing partner at Capital Alpha.
From MarketWatch
But the dynamics of streaming series, with shorter episode orders, doesn’t create the same economies of scale and consistent occupancy rates that network shows once did, Klowden said.
From Los Angeles Times
He said he also has since found solace in Reddit, where he said users shared their experiences with manic and depressive episodes.
From Los Angeles Times
He later backed down from the tariff threat over Greenland citing progress towards a "future deal" over the island, but the episode strained US relations with Denmark and other Nato allies.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
