series

American  

[seer-eez] / ˈsɪər iz /

noun

PLURAL

series

1. a group or a number of related or similar things, events, etc., arranged or occurring in temporal, spatial, or other order or succession; sequence.

2. a number of games, contests, or sporting events, with the same participants, considered as a unit.

   The two baseball clubs played a five-game series.

3. a set, as of coins or stamps.

4. a set of successive volumes or issues of a periodical published in like form with similarity of subject or purpose.

5. Radio and Television.

   1. a daily or weekly program with the same cast and format and a continuing story, as a soap opera, situation comedy, or drama.

   2. a number of related programs having the same theme, cast, or format.

      a series of four programs on African wildlife.

6. Mathematics.

   1. a sequence of terms combined by addition, as 1 + ½ + ¼ + ⅛ + … ½ n.

   2. infinite series.

7. Rhetoric. a succession of coordinate sentence elements.

8. Geology. a division of stratified rocks that is of next higher rank to a stage and next lower rank to a system, comprising deposits formed during part of a geological epoch.

9. Electricity. an end-to-end arrangement of the components, as resistors, in a circuit so that the same current flows through each component.

10. Chemistry. a group of related chemical elements arranged in order of increasing atomic number.

    the lanthanide series.

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adjective

1. Electricity. consisting of or having component parts connected in series.

   a series circuit; a series generator.

series British  

/ ˈsɪəriːz, -rɪz /

noun

1. a group or connected succession of similar or related things, usually arranged in order

2. a set of radio or television programmes having the same characters and setting but different stories

3. a set of books having the same format, related content, etc, published by one firm

4. a set of stamps, coins, etc, issued at a particular time

5. maths the sum of a finite or infinite sequence of numbers or quantities See also geometric series

6. electronics

   1. a configuration of two or more components connected in a circuit so that the same current flows in turn through each of them (esp in the phrase in series )

   2. ( as modifier ) Compare parallel

      a series circuit

7. rhetoric a succession of coordinate elements in a sentence

8. geology a stratigraphical unit that is a subdivision of a system and represents the rocks formed during an epoch

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series Scientific  

/ sîr′ēz /

1. The sum of a sequence of terms, for example 2 + 2 ² + 2 ³ + 2 ⁴ + 2 ⁵ + …

2. A group of rock formations closely related in time of origin and distinct as a group from other formations.

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Related Words

Series, sequence, succession are terms for an orderly following of things one after another. Series is applied to a number of things of the same kind, usually related to each other, arranged or happening in order: a series of baseball games. Sequence stresses the continuity in time, thought, cause and effect, etc.: The scenes came in a definite sequence. Succession implies that one thing is followed by another or others in turn, usually though not necessarily with a relation or connection between them: succession to a throne; a succession of calamities.

Other Word Forms

• multiseries nounmultiseries
• subseries nounsubseries
• superseries nounsuperseries

Etymology

Origin of series

First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin seriēs; akin to serere “to connect”

Example Sentences

The San Francisco Bay Area is expected to see its first in a series of Christmas week storms on Sunday, potentially snarling holiday travel.

From Los Angeles Times

Having started the series looking calm and assured, Pope has returned to his old ways on his journey to Adelaide via two horror dismissals in Brisbane.

From BBC

“They have very limited branding in the series. There are many other things named ‘Roomies’ online, so it’s unclear that it is Bilt.”

From Los Angeles Times

With movie screens across the country going dark and the theatrical exhibition industry hobbled by a series of unpredictable obstacles, many independent movie theaters are barely scraping by.

From Salon

Ben Stokes' side look set to once again lose a series in Australia at the earliest opportunity after slipping to 213-8 on the second day of the third Test, 158 runs behind.

From BBC

Related Words

• array
• course
• list
• run
• sequence
• set
• streak
• string