HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY
To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.
Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.
THE USAGE PANEL
The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP
The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG
The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.
INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?
Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com
n. pl. series Idiom: 1. A number of objects or events arranged or coming one after the other in succession. 2. A set of stamps, coins, or currency issued in a particular period. 3. Physics & Chemistry A group of objects related by linearly varying successive differences in form or configuration: a radioactive decay series; the paraffin alkane series. 4. Mathematics The sum of a sequentially ordered finite or infinite set of terms. 5. Geology A group of rock formations closely related in time of origin and distinct as a group from other formations. 6. Grammar A succession of coordinate elements in a sentence. 7. a. A succession of publications that present an extended narrative, such as a comic book series, or that have similar subjects or similar formats, such as a series of cookbooks. b. A succession of individual programs presented as parts of a unified whole, such as the set of episodes of a television show or a podcast. 8. a. Sports A number of games played by the same two teams, often in succession. b. Baseball The World Series. 9. Linguistics A set of vowels or diphthongs related by ablaut, as in sing, sang, sung, and song. in series In an arrangement that forms a series. [Latin seriēs, from serere, to join; see ser-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] Synonyms: series, chain, progression, sequence, string, succession These nouns denote a number of things placed or occurring one after the other: a series of days, a series of facts; a chain of command, a chain of proof; a progression of courses toward a degree, a progression of prime numbers; a sequence of a chemical reactions, the sequence of events leading to the accident; a string of islands, a string of questions; a succession of failures, a succession of actors auditioning for the play. Usage Note: Series is both a singular and a plural form. When it has the singular sense of "one set," it takes a singular verb, even when series is followed by of and a plural noun: A series of lectures is scheduled. When it has the plural sense of "two or more sets," it takes a plural verb: Two series of lectures are scheduled: one for experts and one for laypeople. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
