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se·quence (sēkwəns, -kwĕns)
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n.
1. A following of one thing after another; succession.
2. An order of succession; an arrangement.
3. A related or continuous series. See Synonyms at series.
4. Games Three or more playing cards in consecutive order and usually the same suit; a run.
5. A series of related shots that constitute a complete unit of action in a movie.
6. Music A melodic or harmonic pattern successively repeated at different pitches with or without a key change.
7. Roman Catholic Church A hymn sung between the gradual and the Gospel.
8. Mathematics An ordered set of quantities, as x, 2x2, 3x3, 4x4.
9. Biochemistry The order of constituents in a polymer, especially the order of nucleotides in a nucleic acid or of the amino acids in a protein.
tr.v. se·quenced, se·quenc·ing, se·quenc·es
1. To organize or arrange in a sequence.
2. To determine the order of constituents in (a polymer, such as a nucleic acid or protein molecule).

[Middle English, a type of hymn, from Old French, from Medieval Latin sequentia, hymn, that which follows (from its following the alleluia), from Late Latin, from Latin sequēns, sequent-, present participle of sequī, to follow; see sekw-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.