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 etca television seriala six-part serialExamples from the Corpusserial• Their letters of planning went back and forth like installments of a serial.• What was between them was, I vaguely recall, a children's classicdramaserial, i.e. Charles Dickens dramatisations etc.• And when the hospitalserialfinished 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 movieserials, our melodramaticdebate over the serial comma continues.• Don't miss the latest episode in our serial, "David Copperfield."• I had recorded my favouriteradioserial one evening, along with twenty minutes of a programme which happened to follow it.• The BBC sells most of its successfulserials to the US.• The television serial should return it there.serialserial2 adjective [only before noun]1 →serial killer/murderer etc2 →serial killings/murders etc3ORDER/SEQUENCEarranged or happening one after the other in the correct orderKeep the questions in the same serial order.4printed or broadcast in several separate partscheap serial publications —serially adverbExamples from the Corpusserial• Some computer printers - so called, serial printers - receive their information from the host computer sequentially.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 regularintervals 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.2computingsendingdata one bit (=unit) at a time over a singlewireThe serial transmission of data can be used over long distances. → compareparallel3appearing 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).Originserial2(1800-1900)series