serial

[ seer-ee-uh l ]

/ ˈsɪər i əl /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR serial ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

anything published, broadcast, etc., in short installments at regular intervals, as a novel appearing in successive issues of a magazine.

Library Science. a publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designation and intended to be continued indefinitely.

adjective

published in installments or successive parts: a serial story.

pertaining to such publication.

pertaining to, arranged in, or consisting of a series.

occurring in a series rather than simultaneously: serial marriage; serial murders.

effecting or producing a series of similar actions: The police think a serial killer is responsible for five homicides in this city last month.

Computers.

of or relating to the apparent or actual performance of data-processing operations one at a time (distinguished from parallel).
of or relating to the transmission or processing of each part of a whole in sequence, as each bit of a byte or each byte of a computer word (distinguished from parallel).

Music. of, relating to, or composed in serial technique.

Nearby words

sergius iii, sergius iv, sergiyev posad, sergt, seri, serial, serial correlation, serial extraction, serial killer, serial monogamy, serial number

Origin of serial

From the New Latin word seriālis, dating back to 1835–45. See series, -al¹

Related forms

se·ri·al·ly, adverbnon·se·ri·al, noun, adjectivenon·se·ri·al·ly, adverb

Can be confused

cereal serial

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for serially

And so the serially unpopular Hollande was robbed of a rare break from public opprobrium.
New Phone-Tapping Scandal Plagues Sarkozy|Tracy McNicoll|March 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Everything's serially correlated with itself and correlated every which way with everything else.
Rogoff and Reinhart Respond|Megan McArdle|April 17, 2013|DAILY BEAST
These are numbered, apart from the eight Guard regiments and the Bavarians, serially throughout the army.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 7|Various
It encouraged a habit of thought that divided experience into specialized units and organized these serially and causally.
The Civilization of Illiteracy|Mihai Nadin

The bones of the carpus are serially arranged and do not interlock.
The Cambridge Natural History, Vol X., Mammalia|Frank Evers Beddard
The footnotes are serially numbered and placed at the end of each chapter.
The Mind and the Brain|Alfred Binet
In all cases these must be serially united by the connecting strand.
Evolution in Art|Alfred C. Haddon

British Dictionary definitions for serially

serial

/ (ˈsɪərɪəl) /

noun

a novel, play, etc, presented in separate instalments at regular intervals

a publication, usually regularly issued and consecutively numbered

adjective

of, relating to, or resembling a series

published or presented as a serial

of or relating to such publication or presentation

computing of or operating on items of information, instructions, etc, in the order in which they occurCompare parallel (def. 5)

of, relating to, or using the techniques of serialism

logic maths (of a relation) connected, transitive, and asymmetric, thereby imposing an order on all the members of the domain, as less than on the natural numbersSee also ordering

Derived Forms

serially, adverb

Word Origin for serial

C19: from New Latin seriālis, from Latin seriēs series

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

serial

noun

adjective

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Nearby words

Origin of serial

Related forms

Can be confused

Examples from the Web for serially

British Dictionary definitions for serially

serial

noun

adjective

Derived Forms

Word Origin for serial