Have you ever been stuck wondering what the plural form of series is in English? This is one of the words that can easily trip you up, whether you are a laypeople or not, if you haven’t thought of it before or in a while. This article will also cover the definition of series, the history and origin of the word, usage notes, synonyms from a thesaurus, and examples of the word series in context to help you fully understand the word.
Your writing, at its best
Compose bold, clear, mistake-free, writing with Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistant
As the unabridged version Merriam-Webster phrases it:
a number of things or events of the same class one after another in spatial or temporal succession
A concert series
The hall opened into a series of small rooms
a set of regularly presented television programs each of which is complete in itself
The indicated sum of a usually infinite sequence of numbers
The coins or currency of a particular country and period
The group of postage stamps in different denominations
A succession of volumes or issues published with related subjects or authors, similar format and price, or continuous numbering such as in a podcast or a set of radio.
A division of rock formations that is smaller than a system and comprises rocks deposited during an epoch
A group of chemical compounds related in composition and structure
An arrangement of the parts of or elements in an electric circuit whereby the whole current passes through each part or element without branching
A set of vowels connected by a laur (such as i, a, u in ring, rang, rung)
A number of games (as of baseball) played usually on consecutive days between two teams
In town for a 3 game series
A group of successive coordinate sentence elements joined together
Soil series
Three consecutive games in bowling
It is important that series can be used as noun, but also as a singular verb or plural verb.
History and Origin of the Word
The first known or recorded time in history that the word series was used was in 1611. It was used in the sense of “a number of things or events of the same class coming one after another in spatial or temporal succession”.
The word series comes from the Latin language. Join in Latin is serere which means to join together or bind, this is similar grammatically to the Greek word eirein which literally translates to English as to string together.
Is Serieses a Word?
If you have ever tried to type out serieses, you would see a little red line underneath it, what is the plural form of series then? While you may think the plural would be seri or seria, series is one of many words in the English language that is the same in both the singular sense and plural sense.
Is or Are After a Series?
This is actually a little more of a tricky subject in grammar than you might think. Just above this question, we discussed that series is both the singular and plural form of the word in the English language. Because the context of the word and whether it is singular or plural will decide whether you use the is (for the singular form of series) or are (for the plural form of series).
Synonyms
Array – collection, considerable group
String – succession, series
List – record, tabulation
Run – sequence, course
Sequence – series, order
Set – group, assortment
Streak – vein, line; small part
Examples of the Word in Context
French officials were already on edge after a series of apparently unconnected attacks, including the stabbing of police officers. – U.S. Spies See Al Qaeda Fingerprints on Paris Massacre – Shane Harris, Nancy A. Youssef – January 8, 2015 – Daily Beast
Life is a series of seemingly throwaway moments strung together in a peculiar tapestry, and Linklater has captured it beautifully. – Oscars 2015: The Daily Beast’s Picks, From Scarlett Johansson to Boyhood – Marlow Stern – January 6, 2015 – Daily Beast
The world series for baseball are related things to the playoffs in American football, many of which are held in New York.
Conway goes on to list a series of other coincidences that he suggests are not simply explained. – Harry’s Daddy, and Diana’s ‘Murder’: Royal Rumors in a New Play – Tom Sykes – January 4, 2015 – Daily Beast
All of these far-future speculations, of course, depend on a series of “ifs.” – Men Will Someday Have Kids Without Women – Samantha Allen – January 3, 2015 – Daily Beast
But throughout the series so far, its style has also had a profound story of its own to tell. – What Downton’s Fashion Really Means – Katie Baker – January 2, 2015 – Daily Beast
The position of those who remained was regulated in a series of decrees, adverse to the system, but favourable to the inmate. – Lectures on the French Revolution – John Emerich, Edward Dalberg – Gutenberg
After a series of farewells that would have befitted an imminent voyage to foreign parts, the Kid went down to the street. The Voice of the City – O. Henry
The first to come to mind is, of course, ABC’s “Cavemen,” a 2007 sitcom based on a series of Geico insurance ads that was famously awful. It turned a trio of cavemen, made up with suburban-Halloween-level hairiness, into members of a minority mistreated by — not kidding — “sapes,” or homo sapiens. Also in the Hall of Shame for series based on ads: CBS’s “Baby Bob” from 2002, the talking infant that was adapted from an ad for FreeInternet.com – ‘Ted Lasso’ is a true anomaly — a TV series or television series adapted from an ad that’s actually worth watching
Kevin Miller is a growth marketer with an extensive background in Search Engine Optimization, paid acquisition and email marketing. He is also an online editor and writer based out of Los Angeles, CA. He studied at Georgetown University, worked at Google and became infatuated with English Grammar and for years has been diving into the language, demystifying the do's and don'ts for all who share the same passion! He can be found online here.