Serried
[SAIR-eed]
Part of speech: adjective
Origin: French, mid-17th century
1.
(Of rows of people or things) Standing close together.
Examples of Serried in a sentence
"The doors opened to reveal the elevator was already full of serried passengers."
"I wanted to stay for the last band of the night, but the crowd was so serried, I could barely breathe."
About Serried
The adjective “serried” is based on the related verb “serry” (meaning “press close”), a loanword from the French “serré,” meaning “tight,” “cramped,” or “locked.”
Did you Know?
One of the places most famously full of serried travelers is the Tokyo subway system, which moves 9 million people every day. During off-hours, Tokyo’s subways are rarely crowded, but as rush hour begins, a Tokyo train has a more tightly serried population than most spots on Earth. The crowds are so heavy that the subway authority employs white-gloved attendants (known as “passenger pushers”) to squeeze riders into cars in a serried formation in order to allow the doors to close.
