Meaning & use
trilogy
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Meaning
nouncountable
A set of three related books, films, or other works that together tell one larger story.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a trilogy', 'two trilogies', 'the first trilogy'.
Patterns
- a trilogy of something
- the first/second/third part of a trilogy
- write/direct/complete a trilogy
The director spent ten years making a trilogy about a family's history.
I borrowed the whole trilogy from the library and read it in a week.
The final film in the trilogy was released last summer.
Word forms
| plural | trilogies |
|---|
Common combinations
- a trilogy of novels
- She is writing a trilogy of novels set in the same small town.
- the first part of a trilogy
- The first part of the trilogy introduces all the main characters.
- complete a trilogy
- The author completed the trilogy after eight years.
- film trilogy
- The film trilogy won several awards.
- the final installment of the trilogy
- Fans waited eagerly for the final installment of the trilogy.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- trilogic adjective
- Relating to a trilogy; rare.
Commonly confused: trilogy or duology? trilogy or tetralogy?
trilogy vs duology
A duology is a set of two works, not three. If you mean three, use trilogy.
trilogy vs tetralogy
A tetralogy is a set of four works; trilogy is three.
Practice
The author's latest work is the second book in a ______ about a detective.
Choose one answer.
The context says 'second book' and implies a set of three, so 'trilogy' is correct. 'Duology' means two, 'tetralogy' means four, and 'series' could be any number, but the specific three-part structure is best expressed by 'trilogy'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “trilogy”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.