serial

American  

[seer-ee-uhl] / ˈsɪər i əl /

noun

serials plural

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

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

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adjective

1. published in installments or successive parts.

   a serial story.

2. pertaining to such publication.

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

4. occurring in a series rather than simultaneously.

   serial marriage; serial murders.

5. effecting or producing a series of similar actions.

   The police think a serial killer is responsible for five homicides in this city last month.

6. Computers.

   1. of or relating to the apparent or actual performance of data-processing operations one at a time (distinguished from parallel).

   2. 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).

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

serial British  

/ ˈsɪərɪəl /

noun

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

2. a publication, usually regularly issued and consecutively numbered

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or resembling a series

2. published or presented as a serial

3. of or relating to such publication or presentation

4. computing of or operating on items of information, instructions, etc, in the order in which they occur Compare parallel

5. of, relating to, or using the techniques of serialism

6. 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 numbers See also ordering

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonserial
  noun
• nonserially
  adverb
• serially
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• serials
  plural

Etymology

Origin of serial

From the New Latin word seriālis, dating back to 1835–45. See series, -al ¹

Explanation

Serial means arranged in a series. If you get a serial number with your new phone, that's a number assigned to the phone when it was made, to distinguish it from all the other phones. Serial has nothing do to with breakfast (that's cereal). It means "in regular succession." If you make a deposit into your savings every week without fail, those are serial payments. You might not recognize grandma after her serial plastic surgeries. A serial killer kills multiple times in similar ways. If you publish a magazine that comes out periodically, you could call it a serial. And your favorite recurring show on TV is a serial too.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

serial serials

“Furious,” which premieres Monday on Hulu, is technically a serial killer story, since there are multiple murders committed by a single character, but happily that is the least of it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026

“This guy is a serial winner. I can also tell you how hard it is to have a lot of alphas and make sure that only one will be the alpha.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026

The famous Buddhist Angulimala Sutta tells a story of a serial killer who is redeemed by the Buddha and becomes a righteous monk.

From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2026

An autopsy report on an Arizona man who died in a crash noted a large shard in his neck that had a DTN serial number inscribed on it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

“Yes, sir. I found out when I radioed in the serial number.”

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

So like the serials of the silent era, we’re left, for the moment at least, with a cliffhanger.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025

The movie draws on a range of classics, from silent adventure serials to screwball mysteries like “The Thin Man” to the swashbuckling epics of Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn.

From New York Times ● Oct. 26, 2023

Much like the old serials that the new Indiana Jones movie is mimicking.

From Slate ● Jul. 5, 2023

Streaming made serials de rigueur; here you’re drawn back not by a cliffhanger but for a variation on the very thing you liked last week.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2023

While Mom and Dad visited the stores, Jim and I were deposited at the Pocahontas Theater to watch cowboy movies and adventure serials with hundreds of other miners’ kids.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

Related Words

• sequential