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Synonyms

serial

American  
[seer-ee-uhl] / ˈsɪər i əl /

noun

  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.

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 (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 (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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • nonserial noun
  • nonserially adverb
  • serially adverb

Etymology

Origin of serial

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.