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sequel meaning and examples

2025-09-03

Meaning

A sequel is a book, movie, play, or other work that continues the story or develops the theme of an earlier one. It can also mean any event or result that follows something.

Grammar and Usage

  • Part of speech: Noun
  • Countable: Yes (plural: sequels)
  • Used to describe the next installment in a series, or as a metaphor for something that follows another event.

Structures:

  • a sequel to [something] → "The sequel to the novel"
  • in the sequel (formal/old-fashioned) → "In the sequel, peace was restored"

Common Phrases

  • movie sequel
  • book sequel
  • a sequel to the story
  • direct sequel
  • unexpected sequel

Collocations

  • Verb + sequel: write a sequel, produce a sequel, release a sequel
  • Adjective + sequel: successful sequel, disappointing sequel, long-awaited sequel
  • Noun + sequel: film sequel, novel sequel, trilogy sequel

Examples

  1. The movie’s sequel was released two years after the original.
  2. She is writing a sequel to her best-selling fantasy novel.
  3. The sequel turned out to be more popular than the first film.
  4. Many fans were disappointed with the sequel’s ending.
  5. The book has no sequel; the story concludes in one volume.
  6. The director promised that the sequel would answer all the questions left open.
  7. That disaster was the sequel to years of neglect.
  8. The new game is a direct sequel to last year’s release.
  • continuation
  • follow-up
  • aftermath (when used in non-literary sense)
  • spin-off (related but not the same)