series

[seer-eez]

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.

adjective

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

   a series circuit; a series generator.

series

/ 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

series

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.

Other Word Forms

• multiseries noun multiseries
• subseries noun subseries
• superseries noun superseries

Word History and Origins

Origin of series¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of series¹

C17: from Latin: a row, from serere to link

Synonym Study

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.

Related Words

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