Definition of TRILOGY

Did You Know?

Dozens of tragic trilogies were written for the Greek stage, though only one, Aeschylus's great Oresteia (consisting of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, *and *The Eumenides), has survived complete. Authors in later years have occasionally chosen to create trilogies to allow themselves to develop a highly complex story or cover a long span of time. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings wasn't actually intended as a trilogy, but since it was published in three volumes it's usually called one. George Lucas's three original Star Wars movies are an example of a film trilogy (which he followed many years later by another).

Examples of trilogy in a Sentence

the last book in the trilogy

Recent Examples on the Web

Mantel's novel is part of a historical trilogy, whose previous two parts consist of Wolf Hall, which was released in 2009, and Bring Up the Bodies, which came out in 2012. — Roxanne Adamiyatt, Town & Country, "Wolf Hall Is Finally Returning for Season 2," 30 May 2019 After all, Jenny Han gave Lara Jean a trilogy, so there’s hope... — Sara Delgado, Teen Vogue, "Lana Condor Teases Possibility of "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" Sequel," 9 Nov. 2018 New additions include Ghostbusters and the Scream trilogy. — Rebekah Lowin, Country Living, "Freeform Just Announced Its '31 Nights of Halloween' for 2019 and It's Bigger Than Ever," 15 May 2019 Carrie Fisher’s tragic death in 2016 changed Disney’s plans for the conclusion of this trilogy in major ways. — John Gilpatrick, Popular Mechanics, "Everything We Know About the Future of Star Wars," 10 May 2019 On the plus side, there’s some thematic consistency with Yoda being a character who shows up throughout the entire Skywalker Saga and especially in the second and third installments of each trilogy. — Graeme Mcmillan, WIRED, "Cantina Talk: Solo Isn't Really an Origin Story," 23 Apr. 2018 The last chapter of the original High School Musical trilogy ended 10 years ago this October, but now Disney Channel is reviving the hit franchise with a brand new TV series. — Stacey Grant, Seventeen, "Meet the New Characters on the "High School Musical" TV Series," 6 Sep. 2018 After debuting The Golden Compass in 2007 to little acclaim, the entertainment industry is trying once again to adapt His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman's beloved fantasy trilogy. — Chloe Foussianes, Town & Country, "The His Dark Materials Books Are Being Adapted into a TV Show. Here's Everything We Know.," 28 Feb. 2019 Sabrina boasts a stellar cast, most notably Lucy Davis (Etta Candy in Wonder Woman) as Sabrina's warmly addled Aunt Hilda, and Miranda Otto (Eowyn in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) as her strict, traditionalist Aunt Zelda. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina," 18 Dec. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'trilogy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.