sequence

noun, verb — 12 senses

sequence

noun

UK /ˈsiː.kwəns/ · CA, US /ˈsi.kwəns/

Etymology From Middle English sequence, from Old French sequence (“a sequence of cards, answering verses”), from Late Latin sequentia (“a following”), from Latin sequēns (“following”), from sequī (“to follow”); see sequent.

8 senses
  1. 1A set of things next to each other in a set order; a series.
  2. 2The state of being sequent or following; order of succession.
  3. 3A series of musical phrases where a theme or melody is…
  4. 4A musical composition used in some Catholic Masses…
  5. 5An ordered list of objects, typically indexed with…
  6. 6A subsequent event; a consequence or result.
  7. 7A series of shots that depict a single action or style…
  8. 8A meld consisting of three or more cards of successive…
1

A set of things next to each other in a set order; a series.

  • An alphabet follows a sequence.
  • The risks involved in changing the DNA sequence is higher.
2

The state of being sequent or following; order of succession.

  • Complete the listed tasks in sequence.
3

A series of musical phrases where a theme or melody is repeated, with some change each time, such as in pitch or length (example: opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony).

4

A musical composition used in some Catholic Masses between the readings. The most famous sequence is the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) formerly used in funeral services.

5

Mathematics, Sciences An ordered list of objects, typically indexed with natural numbers.

6

Archaic A subsequent event; a consequence or result.

  • he found no words to convey the impressions he had received; then he gave way to the anger always the sequence of the antagonism of opinion between them.1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, pages 12–13:
7

A series of shots that depict a single action or style in a film, television show, or other video medium.

  • What follows is a bunch of nonstop goofery involving chase sequences, dream sequences, fast-changing costumes and an improbable beard, a little musical help from Flight Of The Conchords, and ultimately a very physical confrontation with a surprisingly spry Victoria.2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits :”, in The Onion AV Club:
8

Card games, Games A meld consisting of three or more cards of successive ranks in the same suit, such as the four, five and six of hearts.

Synonyms
array, chain, procession, consecution, sequence, series, string, succession, train
Antonyms
hodgepodge
Derived terms
93 termsalmost split sequence, Appell sequence, arithmetic sequence, asequence, base sequence, biosequence, canonical sequence, Cauchy sequence, chronosequence, climosequence, conserved sequence, convergent sequence, cratonic sequence, de Bruijn sequence, deduced amino acid sequence, degree sequence, divisibility sequence, DNA sequence, dream sequence, Ducci sequence, eigensequence, emoji flag sequence, emoji sequence, emoji ZWJ sequence, exact sequence, Farey sequence, Fibonacci sequence, flight sequence, fluorosequence, Frölicher spectral sequence, geometric sequence, Gijswijt's sequence, Goodstein sequence, Gould's sequence, Hodge-de Rham spectral sequence, homosequence, ideographic description sequence, in sequence, intersequence, King Wen sequence, Kolakoski sequence, leader sequence, long exact sequence, macrosequence, main-sequence, main sequence, megasequence, metasequence, microsequence, midsequence, missequence, multisequence, nilsequence, nonsequence, oligosequence, opening sequence, Padovan sequence, parasequence, photosequence, Pierre Robin sequence, polysequence, Potter sequence, pre-main-sequence star, prosequence, protosequence, pseudosequence, pyrosequence, random sequence, resequence, retrosequence, rock sequence, sequence assembly, sequence breaking, sequence dance, sequenceless, sequence-of-returns risk, sequence of tenses, sequence point, sequencer, sequential, Sheffer sequence, Shine-Dalgarno sequence, short exact sequence, slippery sequence, stereosequence, Sturm sequence, subsequence, supersequence, Thue-Morse sequence, title sequence, toposequence, triggering sequence, twin oligohydramnios-polyhydramnios sequence
Hypernyms
function, arrangement, set, group
Hyponyms
presequence, escape sequence, course, cycle, procedure, process, race, thread
Meronyms
term, beginning, midpoint, finish, phase

sequence

verb

Etymology From Middle English sequence, from Old French sequence (“a sequence of cards, answering verses”), from Late Latin sequentia (“a following”), from Latin sequēns (“following”), from sequī (“to follow”); see sequent.

1

To arrange (something) in an order.

  • We sequenced the code to keep it organised.
  • The later edition of the book sequenced the chapters differently, which caused a lot of confusion among non-technical readers.
2

Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Microbiology, Natural sciences, Physical sciences To determine the order of monomers in (a biological polymer), e.g. of amino acids in (a protein), or of bases in (a nucleic acid).

3

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music To produce (music) with a sequencer.

4

Uncommon To proceed through a sequence or series of things.

  • Children start to make meanings and connections as soon as they encounter the book. This starts with the initial analyses and inferences they make when they see the book cover and continues as they sequence through the interior illustrations.2021 April 21, Benita Strnad, Ginger Magnusson Hewitt, “Reading a Book Through Its Cover: The Importance of Preserving Visual and Tactile Information in Children’s and Young Adult Literature in the Academic Library”, in Collection Management, volume 46, numbers 3–4, →DOI, page 335:
  • If indeed smokers sequence through more biologic therapies, these findings may bring about significant practice changes focused on smoking cessation earlier in the CD course.2023 July 21, Madeline Alizadeh, Osman Ali, Raymond K. Cross, “Assessing Progression of Biologic Therapies Based on Smoking Status in Patients With Crohn’s Disease”, in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, volume 20, →DOI, page 2:
Derived terms
sequenceability, sequenceable

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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