episodic

Also ep·i·sod·i·cal

[ep-uh-sod-ik, -zod-]

adjective

1. pertaining to or of the nature of an episode.

2. divided into separate or tenuously related parts or sections; loosely connected.

   an episodic novel.

   Synonyms: digressive, wandering, rambling

3. occurring sporadically or incidentally.

episodic

/ ˌɛpɪˈsɒdɪk /

adjective

1. resembling or relating to an episode

2. divided into or composed of episodes

3. irregular, occasional, or sporadic

Other Word Forms

• episodically adverb
• nonepisodic adjective
• nonepisodical adjective
• nonepisodically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of episodic¹

First recorded in 1705–15; episode + -ic

Example Sentences

The storytelling is done mostly in episodic glimpses, with few conventional dialogue scenes, so the film comes to feel like the fragments of a memory.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Researchers measured how much detail participants included when describing their episodic autobiographical memories.

Read more on Science Daily

The study revealed that subduction zones don't fail in one catastrophic break but die in stages, through a process known as "episodic" or "piecewise" termination.

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“As the spending stream starts to diminish, you could have more rocks exposed, and the more likely you’ll get episodic bankruptcies,” Bethune said.

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They can be short-term or long-term, semantic or episodic.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• anecdotal 
• disjointed 

When To Use

What does episodic mean?

Episodic describes things that are divided into episodes—parts or installments in a series.The word episode is perhaps most popularly used 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. A TV show is especially described as episodic when each episode is its own standalone story, as in Showrunners are planning to make the reboot more episodic, with each episode being its own adventure. (Of course, many shows have episodes that contain a standalone story that also ties into the bigger narrative.)A more general sense of the word episode refers to a specific incident in a continuous series of events or an occurrence of a recurring event. In this way, episodic can be used to describe things that occur occasionally or at irregular intervals. Similar terms are occasional, irregular, and sporadic.Example: Epilepsy is sometimes described as an episodic disability because seizures happen at irregular intervals.