Meaning & use
series
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Meanings
nouncountable
A number of similar or related things that come one after another.
Grammar: Same form for singular and plural: one series, two series.
Patterns
- a series of something
- in a series
A series of storms hit the coast this week.
The museum is holding a series of talks on local history.
She made a series of small mistakes.
nouncountable
A set of television or radio programs with the same characters or theme, shown in order.
Grammar: British English uses series for a season of episodes.
Patterns
- a TV series
- the first series of something
We're watching a new crime series on Friday nights.
The series ran for seven years.
She stars in a popular comedy series.
nouncountablesport
A group of sports games played between the same teams or a championship round of them.
Grammar: Common in baseball: the World Series.
Patterns
- win the series
The home team won the series four games to two.
They are tied one game apiece in the series.
The final series will be held next month.
nouncountablemathematics
In mathematics, a sum of terms that follow a rule, often an unending list.
Grammar: Technical: an arithmetic series.
Patterns
- a series of numbers
The sum of an infinite series can be finite.
Students learned to find the sum of a geometric series.
The series converges to a fixed number.
Word forms
| plural | series |
|---|
Common combinations
- a series of events
- A series of events led to the delay.
- television series
- The television series was filmed in Canada.
- in series
- The lights are wired in series.
- series finale
- The series finale had millions of viewers.
- a whole series
- There's a whole series of books about the detective.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sequence
- Sequence stresses a specific order, while series stresses related items one after another.
- succession
- Succession emphasizes things following each other without a gap, often over time.
- string
- String is more informal and used for a chain of similar items, like a string of hits.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: series or serial? series or cereal?
series vs serial
A serial is a story in parts; series means the group of parts or episodes.
series vs cereal
Cereal is a breakfast food or grain; it sounds like serial but not like series.
Practice
A ___ of emails arrived overnight, all about the same problem.
Choose one answer.
A series of means a number of related things. Serial is an adjective or story form, cereal is food, and serie is not an English word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “series”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.