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
  noun
• subseries
  noun
• superseries
  noun

Etymology

Origin of series

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

Explanation

The World Series consists of a series of seven games between the champions of the National and American Baseball Leagues. A series is a group of similar things happening one after the other. Your favorite TV drama that comes on week after week is a series. Each episode is one in a series of many. If you make one mistake after another as you try to make dinner, you could say that the meal arrived on the table despite a series of culinary mishaps. If you have several conversations with your parents about how late you can stay out, you might say your curfew was determined by a series of discussions.

Example Sentences

Meanwhile a four-part movie series about the band is currently being filmed in Liverpool for release in 2028, made by Skyfall director Sam Mendes.

From BBC • May 10, 2026

“But to say that eight years later, at 41, I’d be leading the team into the postseason and coming out with a series win? I wouldn’t have guessed that.”

From The Wall Street Journal • May 10, 2026

The Lakers needed Ayton to thrive during this series against the double-big lineup of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein.

From Los Angeles Times • May 10, 2026

One of the most familiar cooperative breeders to a human audience might be the meerkat, thanks to the documentary series Meerkat Manor.

From Slate • May 10, 2026

It’s funny the way I remember my time in France: little vignettes, discombobulated, a narrative drifting along an ocean, a series of scenes that meant nothing until they meant something.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

Related Words

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