episode
/ˈɛpɪsəʊd
/noun
1An event or a group of events occurring as part of a sequence; an incident or period considered in isolation: the whole episode has been a major embarrassment...
- In any event, the whole episode has given rise to the same mercantilist arguments that have always been used to justify tariffs.
- If we take it at face value, the whole episode was a terrible accident, but the way the police have handled the aftermath has perhaps done them more harm than good.
- Regardless of the outcome of the trial, the whole episode has been a huge embarrassment to English football.
Synonyms
incident, event, occurrence, happening, occasion, interlude, chapter, experience, adventure, exploit;
matter, affair, business, circumstance, set of circumstances, thing;
ordeal, trial
1.1A finite period in which someone is affected by a specified illness: acute psychotic episodes...
- Large numbers of the bacteria circulate in the blood, giving rise to recurrent episodes of illness interspersed with periods of feeling well.
- We considered acute episodes of illnesses that had occurred during the previous year.
- These patients typically present with recurrent episodes of purulent bronchitis and pneumonia.
Synonyms
period, spell, bout, fit, attack, interval, phase
informal dose
2Each of the separate instalments into which a serialized story or radio or television programme is divided: the final episode of the series...
- In seven years they wrote 103 radio episodes and 63 television shows.
- Whilst listening to an episode of Radio 4's programme Growing Science, I came across a word I hadn't heard before - thigmomorphogenesis.
- My restaurant was used by BBC TV to shoot television plays and an episode of a serial was made there.
Synonyms
instalment, section, chapter, scene, act, passage;
part, division, portion, subsection, segment, component;
programme, show
2.1 Music A passage containing distinct material or introducing a new subject: this change is followed by an episode in this new key...
- I found myself visibly moved during the central subject's climactic high string episodes; likewise during the close of the development.
- Fugue and episodes flow in and out of one another seamlessly.
- Most of the episodes (excepting a very Stravinskian idea of an upward-thrusting minor third) seem related to the main theme.
2.2A section between two choric songs in Greek tragedy.This was only the most dramatic episode in an unfolding tragedy....
- His ‘Homeric Ballads’, versified episodes from the Odyssey told in brisk, headlong style, were for Fraser's.
- Plato illustrates the intellectual advantage that Socrates has over Protagoras in the episode of Simonides's poem.
Origin
Late 17th century (denoting a section between songs in Greek tragedy): from Greek epeisodion, neuter of epeisodios 'coming in besides', from epi 'in addition' + eisodos 'entry' (from eis 'into' + hodos 'way').
An episode was originally a section between two choric songs in Greek tragedy. The word is from Greek epeisodios ‘coming in besides’. The use of the word for an instalment in a radio and, eventually, television drama is early 20th century.