adjective

1. of, arranged in, or forming a series serial numbers
2. appearing, published, issued, etc. in a series or succession of continuous parts at regular intervals
3. of a serial or serials serial rights to a novel
4. committing an act, usually a criminal act, repeatedly and, typically, compulsively a serial murderer
5. Comput.
   1. of or for the transmission of a byte of data one bit at a time, over a single wire a serial port
   2. having to do with the performing of multiple operations one after the other serial processing
6. Music
   1. designating or of a technique of composition in which various components of music, as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, etc., are arranged in an arbitrary order (a row or set) which serves as a basis for development
   2. loosely twelve-tone

Etymology: ModL serialis < L series, a row, order, series

noun

1. 1. a novel, story, film, etc. published or presented in serial form
   2. any of the separate parts or episodes
2. a periodical publication