series

[seer-eez]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR series ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural se·ries.

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

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.

a set, as of coins or stamps.

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

Radio and Television.

a daily or weekly program with the same cast and format and a continuing story, as a soap opera, situation comedy, or drama.
a number of related programs having the same theme, cast, or format: a series of four programs on African wildlife.

Mathematics.

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

Rhetoric. a succession of coordinate sentence elements.

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.

Electricity. an end-to-end arrangement of the components, as resistors, in a circuit so that the same current flows through each component.Compare parallel(def 13).

Chemistry. a group of related chemical elements arranged in order of increasing atomic number: the lanthanide series.

adjective

Electricity. consisting of or having component parts connected in series: a series circuit; a series generator.

Origin of series

1605–15; < Latin seriēs; akin to serere to connect

Related formsmul·ti·se·ries, noun, plural mul·ti·se·ries.sub·se·ries, noun, plural sub·se·ries.su·per·se·ries, noun, plural su·per·se·ries.

Synonyms for series

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR series ON THESAURUS.COM

1. 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.

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

Related Words for series

streak, set, run, string, sequence, list, course, array, classification, alternation, procession, file, row, category, scale, group, chain, gradation, arrangement, suit

Examples from the Web for series

Contemporary Examples of series

Music is a huge part of the tone of Black Dynamite overall—going back to the original 2009 movie on which the series is based.
‘Black Dynamite’ Presents Police Brutality: The Musical
Stereo Williams
January 9, 2015
French officials were already on edge after a series of apparently unconnected attacks, including the stabbing of police officers.
U.S. Spies See Al Qaeda Fingerprints on Paris Massacre
Shane Harris, Nancy A. Youssef
January 8, 2015
Life is a series of seemingly throwaway moments strung together in a peculiar tapestry, and Linklater has captured it beautifully.
Oscars 2015: The Daily Beast’s Picks, From Scarlett Johansson to ‘Boyhood’
Marlow Stern
January 6, 2015
Conway goes on to list a series of other coincidences that he suggests are not simply explained.
Harry’s Daddy, and Diana’s ‘Murder’: Royal Rumors In a New Play
Tom Sykes
January 4, 2015
All of these far future speculations, of course, depend on a series of “ifs.”
Men Will Someday Have Kids Without Women
Samantha Allen
January 3, 2015

Historical Examples of series

All of the "Coverley" series came out in the English Illustrated.
De Libris: Prose and Verse
Austin Dobson
There should be a series of Coming of Ages for every individual.
A Treatise on Parents and Children
George Bernard Shaw
I—a series of things happened, and I decided I was in the wrong business.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
A series of concerts followed, at which various oratorios and other works were performed.
Handel
Edward J. Dent
To make sure there was no mistake, the series of questions was repeated.
The Story of the Malakand Field Force
Sir Winston S. Churchill

British Dictionary definitions for series

series

noun plural -ries

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

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

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

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

maths the sum of a finite or infinite sequence of numbers or quantitiesSee also geometric series

electronics

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)
(as modifier)a series circuit Compare parallel (def. 10)

rhetoric a succession of coordinate elements in a sentence

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

Word Origin for series

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

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

Word Origin and History for series

1610s, "a number or set of things of one kind arranged in a line," from Latin series "row, chain, series, sequence, succession," from serere "to join, link, bind together, arrange, attach, put; join in speech, discuss," from PIE root *ser- (3) "to line up, join" (cf. Sanskrit sarat- "thread," Greek eirein "to fasten together in rows," Gothic sarwa (plural) "armor, arms," Old Norse sörve "necklace of stringed pearls," Old Irish sernaid "he joins together," Welsh ystret "row").

Meaning "set of printed works published consecutively" is from 1711. Meaning "set of radio or television programs with the same characters and themes" is attested from 1949. Baseball sense "set of games on consecutive days between the same teams" is from 1862.

series in Medicine