trilogy

noun tril·o·gy \ ˈtri-lə-jē \

|Updated on: 9 Aug 2018

Definition of trilogy

plural trilogies

: a series of three dramas or literary works or sometimes three musical compositions that are closely related and develop a single theme

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Examples of trilogy in a Sentence

the last book in the trilogy

Recent Examples of trilogy from the Web

This trilogy of records and the accompanying, jaw-dropping visuals have made the Carters the domestic sages of our era.

— taylor antrim, Vogue, "6 Lessons About Marriage from Beyoncé and Jay-Z's Everything Is Love," 22 June 2018
Wednesday's results complete a trilogy of elections to put the Main Street extension on track.

— bill turque, kansascity, "Taxes for KC Streetcar extension to UMKC approved by wide margin in mail-in ballots," 20 June 2018
Well, the prequels got something right here, but even the Naboo N-1's impressive .1 drag coefficient pales in comparison to the .02 achieved by an actual fighter jet like the F-4 Phantom, which existed at the time of the original trilogy.

— eric limer, Popular Mechanics, "Which Star Wars Ships Have the Best (and Worst) Aerodynamics?," 19 June 2018
Soon enough, words took over and became entire pictures, including perhaps the best known: Oof, a trilogy of sans-serif block letters in cadmium yellow against cobalt and Bellini blue.

— mark rozzo, Vanities, "Ed Ruscha Still Has Plenty More to Say About America," 30 May 2018
The height of this was the chemistry between Harrison Ford’s Han and Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia in the original trilogy, where there was a fine line between bickering and flirtation.

— brian truitt, USA TODAY, "We've got a good feeling about this: It's time for 'Star Wars' to have a sex scene," 30 May 2018
The first installation of a larger fantasy trilogy, Children of Blood and Bone is already proving to be one of the biggest YA fiction titles in recent years.

— shammara lawrence, Teen Vogue, "“Children of Blood and Bone” Author Tomi Adeyemi on Creating a World Where Readers of Color Can See Themselves," 19 Mar. 2018
Later this month, Rich Larson will publish his debut novel, Annex, the start to his Violet Wars trilogy.

— andrew liptak, The Verge, "A transgender girl rises up against alien invaders in Rich Larson’s novel Annex," 8 July 2018
The first installment, by Emma Garman, profiles British Novelist Olivia Manning (1908-1980), known best for her novel School for Love and for her Balkan and Levant trilogies.

— sari botton, Longreads, "Balancing the Books," 15 June 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.

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).