Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The entire sequence of ecological communities successively occupying an area from the initial stage to the climax.
  • adjective Withered; dry.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Separate; several; many.
  • See sear.
  • noun A claw or talon.
  • Safe; secure.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Dry; withered. Same as sear.
  • noun obsolete Claw; talon.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete claw; talon
  • adjective Without moisture.
  • noun An intermediate stage in an ecosystem prior to advancing to the point of being a climax community.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (used especially of vegetation) having lost all moisture

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From series.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English sēar.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French serre

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English seer(e), from Old English sēar.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word sere.

Examples

  • Some derived from personal training experiences, including a military program known as sere (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape), designed to help soldiers persevere in the event of capture.

    The Green Light Sands, Philippe 2008

  • It was inflicted, and endured, by those members of the Special Forces who underwent the advanced form of training known as sere (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape).

    Believe Me, It's Torture Hitchens, Christopher 2008

  • Many people assume that Special Forces operatives looked around for interrogation methods, recalled their sere training, and decided to try the techniques.

    Rorschach and Awe Eban, Katherine 2007

  • Both worked in a classified military training program known as sere — for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape — which trains soldiers to endure captivity in enemy hands.

    Rorschach and Awe Eban, Katherine 2007

  • Though they were all in what Dr. Spinks afterwards termed the sere and yellow leaf, both he and the good captain really vied with each other in paying kindly attention to their wants.

    Our Home in the Silver West A Story of Struggle and Adventure Gordon Stables 1875

  • He used it three and a half times in the book, annoying me at least as much as Andre Norton's use of 'sere' in every one of her books.

    In Which I Survive the Baton Death March eddvick 2007

  • "Yes, sir, I'm a-looking, and there's a heap o 'sere' ood with a bit of

    Crown and Sceptre A West Country Story George Manville Fenn 1870

  • He had signed on, drawn down his bank account, paid his first wife a lump sum to cover her maintenance and child support for the twins, married the love of his soul on a sere, scorched afternoon three weeks ago, and put the finishing touches on his yurt.

    The Silence 2010

  • We picked up speed and hauled through sere yellow farmland.

    The 12:39 to Matanzas 2009

  • We picked up speed and hauled through sere yellow farmland.

    The 12:39 to Matanzas 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • The skies they were ashen and sober;

         The leaves they were crispéd and sere –

         The leaves they were withering and sere:

    It was night, in the lonesome October

         Of my most immemorial year . . .

    "Ululume – A Ballad," by E. A. Poe

    December 7, 2007

  • As verb, variant of sear:

    What was cupped in palm and thumb

    seres now under radium.

    - Peter Reading, C, 1984

    July 23, 2008