serial

adjective · noun · verb

Simple meaning

Published or produced in installments.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sihreeuhl

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsɪɹiəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

Published or produced in installments.
Having to do with or arranged in a series.
of a person
Who performs a specified action or course of action repeatedly or regularly.

noun

A literary or dramatic work, such as a radio or television programme, published in installments, often numbered and without a specified end.
A publication issued in successive parts, often numbered and with no predetermined end.
uk
A unit of police officers equipped with shields to tackle a riot.

verb

transitive
To assign a serial number to (especially of aircraft)

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Published or produced in installments.

Used this way, serial is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: No strong connotation
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use serial

“They are showing a new serial drama on television tonight.”adjective

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

serial numberserial portserial killerserial correlationserial dataserial orderserial formserial position

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

serializeverbDerived verb
Arrange serially.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

serial portnounCompound term
An interface (commonly used for modems and mice and some printers) that transmits data a bit at a time.
serial printernounCompound term
A printer that prints a single character at a time.
serial processingnounCompound term
Sequential processing by two or more processing units.
serial publicationnounCompound term
A periodical that appears at scheduled times.
serial murderernounCompound term
Someone who murders more than three victims one at a time in a relatively short interval.
serial monogamynounCompound term
A succession of short monogamous relationships (as by someone who undergoes multiple divorces).

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

serializationnounRelated term
Publication in serial form.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: literary or dramatic work

series

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.