From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishserialse‧ri‧al1 /ˈsɪəriəl $ ˈsɪr-/ noun [countable] SERIESa story that is broadcast or printed in several separate parts on television, in a magazine etc a television serial a six-part serial
Examples from the Corpus
serial• Their letters of planning went back and forth like installments of a serial.• What was between them was, I vaguely recall, a children's classic drama serial, i.e. Charles Dickens dramatisations etc.• And when the hospital serial finished they carried their coffee across to the set and watched the courtroom serial.• I love the old Saturday morning serials from the 1940s.• In the tradition of the old Saturday-afternoon movie serials, our melodramatic debate over the serial comma continues.• Don't miss the latest episode in our serial, "David Copperfield."• I had recorded my favourite radio serial one evening, along with twenty minutes of a programme which happened to follow it.• The BBC sells most of its successful serials to the US.• The television serial should return it there.serialserial2 adjective [only before noun] 1 → serial killer/murderer etc2 → serial killings/murders etc3 ORDER/SEQUENCEarranged or happening one after the other in the correct order Keep the questions in the same serial order.4 printed or broadcast in several separate parts cheap serial publications —serially adverbExamples from the Corpus
serial• There are a lot of courtroom drama books and serial killer tales about, but this one is special.• She escapes and later discovers that her attacker is a suspected serial killer.• This morning I made you out to be a serial killer!• Read the February issue of eve to find out, and discuss whether serial killers are born that way below.• Even serial killers get cost-of-living raises if they happen to have a pension adjusted for inflation.• Some computer printers - so called, serial printers - receive their information from the host computer sequentially.• The last verified rape by the serial rapist occurred last Tuesday in Mountain View.• Nearly all present-day digital computers are of the serial type, executing one program at a time.From Longman Business Dictionaryserialse‧ri‧al /ˈsɪəriəlˈsɪr-/ adjective [only before a noun]1FINANCE serial bonds etc are a set of investments which MATURE (=become due for payment) at regular intervals over a period of timeAll of the issue’sserial bonds have split maturities of March 1 and Sept. 1.The Exchange launched serial options in its sugar market yesterday.2computing sending data one bit (=unit) at a time over a single wireThe serial transmission of data can be used over long distances. → compare parallel3appearing or happening in a fixed order, one after the otherIf you use the index facility on your PC, a serial search is not necessary.We are considering serial publication (=printing parts of a book at regular intervals, for example in a newspaper or magazine).Origin serial2 (1800-1900) series 