series

[seer-eez] /ˈsɪər iz/
noun, plural series.
1.
a group or a number of related or similar things, events, etc., arranged or occurring in temporal, spatial, or other order or succession; sequence.
2.
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.
3.
a set, as of coins or stamps.
4.
a set of successive volumes or issues of a periodical published in like form with similarity of subject or purpose.
5.
Radio and Television.
  1. a daily or weekly program with the same cast and format and a continuing story, as a soap opera, situation comedy, or drama.
  2. a number of related programs having the same theme, cast, or format:
    a series of four programs on African wildlife.
6.
Mathematics.
  1. a sequence of terms combined by addition, as 1 + ½ + ¼ + ⅛ + … ½ n.
  2. infinite series.
7.
Rhetoric. a succession of coordinate sentence elements.
8.
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.
9.
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).
10.
Chemistry. a group of related chemical elements arranged in order of increasing atomic number:
the lanthanide series.
adjective
11.
Electricity. consisting of or having component parts connected in series:
a series circuit; a series generator.
Origin
1605-15; < Latin seriēs; akin to serere to connect
Related forms
multiseries, noun, plural multiseries.
subseries, noun, plural subseries.
superseries, noun, plural superseries.
Synonyms
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.
Examples from the web for series
  • Most software programs are made up of instructions that tell a computer to take a series of actions in a certain order.
  • Articles in this series are exploring the causes of the financial crisis.
  • First, the professors will develop a series of videotaped.
  • Might have to do some research as series starts this month.
  • Out came the vertebrae, pelvic bones, and-one by one-a series of ribs deeply embedded in the cliff side.
  • Four irrepressible friends head out to sea in the latest installment in a first-reader series that has no equal.
  • Now it's the fact that you can take those series on the road with you.
  • Future posts in the series will explore some of these tools in more detail.
  • Yet this respectable average hides a series of problems.
  • The result is a curious series of portraits-the only surviving of the empress.
British Dictionary definitions for series

series

/ˈsɪəriːz; -rɪz/
noun (pl) -ries
1.
a group or connected succession of similar or related things, usually arranged in order
2.
a set of radio or television programmes having the same characters and setting but different stories
3.
a set of books having the same format, related content, etc, published by one firm
4.
a set of stamps, coins, etc, issued at a particular time
5.
(maths) the sum of a finite or infinite sequence of numbers or quantities See also geometric series
6.
(electronics)
  1. 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)
  2. (as modifier): a series circuit Compare parallel (sense 10)
7.
(rhetoric) a succession of coordinate elements in a sentence
8.
(geology) a stratigraphical unit that is a subdivision of a system and represents the rocks formed during an epoch
Word Origin
C17: from Latin: a row, from serere to link
Word Origin and History for series
n.

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

series se·ries (sēr'ēz)
n. pl. series

  1. A number of objects or events arranged or coming one after the other in succession.

  2. A group of objects related by linearly varying successive differences in form or configuration, as in a radioactive decay series.

series in Science
series
  (sîr'ēz)   

  1. The sum of a sequence of terms, for example 2 + 22 + 23 + 24 + 25 + ...

  2. A group of rock formations closely related in time of origin and distinct as a group from other formations.