series

noun

se·​ries ˈsir-(ˌ)ēz 

plural series

often attributive

1

a

: a number of things or events of the same class coming one after another in spatial or temporal succession

a concert series

the hall opened into a series of small rooms

b

: a set of regularly presented television programs each of which is complete in itself

2

: the indicated sum of a usually infinite sequence of numbers

3

a

: the coins or currency of a particular country and period

b

: a group of postage stamps in different denominations

4

: a succession of volumes or issues published with related subjects or authors, similar format and price, or continuous numbering

5

: a division of rock formations that is smaller than a system and comprises rocks deposited during an epoch

6

: a group of chemical compounds related in composition and structure

7

: an arrangement of the parts of or elements in an electric circuit whereby the whole current passes through each part or element without branching compare parallel

8

: a set of vowels connected by ablaut (such as i, a, u in ring, rang, rung)

9

: a number of games (as of baseball) played usually on consecutive days between two teams

in town for a 3-game series

10

: a group of successive coordinate sentence elements joined together

11

: soil series

12

: three consecutive games in bowling

Phrases

in series

: in a serial or series arrangement

Examples of series in a Sentence

a five-part series on the history of baseball

a series of articles on global warming

The Yankees played a three-game series against the Red Sox last week.

The play-off series between the two teams begins next week.

Recent Examples on the Web

His conman and her librarian fall in love through a series of music and dance numbers. —Martha Ross, The Mercury News, 13 Nov. 2024

Vols haven’t scored more than 21 points during their seven-game losing streak against the Bulldogs. — No. 24 Missouri at No. 23 South Carolina: Tigers have won five straight in the series. —Eric Olson, The Denver Post, 10 Nov. 2024

That’s one less comic-book series The Penguin will have to deal with as a Limited Series. —Joe Reid, Vulture, 8 Nov. 2024

This time, the trigger was a series of unremarkable comments by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on the occasion of Taiwan’s National Day a few days prior. —David Sacks, Foreign Affairs, 8 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Latin, from serere to join, link together; akin to Greek eirein to string together, hormos chain, necklace, and perhaps to Latin sort-, sors lot

First Known Use

1611, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing series

• alternating series
• Fourier series
• geometric series
• harmonic series
• Maclaurin series
• power series
• soil series
• sub-series
• Taylor series
• time series

Kids Definition

series

noun

se·​ries ˈsi(ə)r-ēz 

plural series

1

: a number of things or events arranged in order and connected by being alike in some way

a concert series

a series of talks

2

: a division of rock formations smaller than a system comprising rocks deposited during an epoch

3

: an arrangement of the parts of or elements in an electric circuit whereby the whole current passes through each part or element without branching

4

: a group of sentence elements of the same rank that follow one after another and are joined together

the phrase "a bowl of oranges, apples, and bananas" has a series of three nouns

Medical Definition

series

noun

se·​ries ˈsi(ə)r-(ˌ)ēz 

plural series

1

: a number of things or events of the same class coming one after another in spatial or temporal succession

described a new series of cases

2

: a group of specimens or types progressively differing from each other in some morphological or physiological attribute

a series of antitoxins

3

: a group of chemical compounds related in composition and structure