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.

Example Sentences

“Like a plane crash, decline rarely happens because of a single failure, it’s a series of mistakes.”

Read more on Barron's

As negotiations over their fate continued, Hamas drip fed the Israeli public with a cruel series of videos, often showing the hostages in situations of extreme distress.

Read more on BBC

London staged annual games from 2007 and the NFL only expanded its international series when it was confident the matches would continue to sell out.

Read more on BBC

Wrestlers were seen visiting Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross, made famous by the Harry Potter series, and some even made it as far as Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

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The airport operators will hold a series of events during the consultation period presenting the proposals to communities, local businesses, MPs and MSPs.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

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