Word of the Day

Monday, January 24, 2005

seriatim

\sir-ee-AY-tim; -AT-im\ , adverb;

In a series; one after another.

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Quotes:

Mr. and Mrs. Kenwigs thanked every lady and gentleman, seriatim, for the favour of their company.

-- Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickelby

Two days from the opening of the impeachment debate, gangs of television crews moved through mostly deserted corridors, doling out their 15 minutes of fame seriatim as individual lawmakers stepped up to batteries of microphones.

-- New York Times, December 16, 1998

In his company one found oneself supposing, on hearing Walters handle German and Spanish, French and Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, and Russian, that his mind traveled from any one language to any other seriatim, because his mind worked that way, taking it all in.

-- William F. Buckley Jr., "Dick Walters R.I.P.", National Review, February 15, 2002

Origin:

Seriatim derives from the Latin series, meaning "row, chain," and is formed on the same model as verbatim ("word for word") and literatim ("letter for letter").