Meanings
- In gradual steps; bit by bit.
By degrees the libraries which were unendowed fell behind the age, and were consequently neglected.
1880, William Blades, The Enemies of Books, page 362 more examples
She came to us snappish and suspicious, but when she found what sort of place ours was, it all went off by degrees; […]
[1877], Anna Sewell, “Earlshall”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, page 102When Jem put his foot on the bottom step, the step squeaked. He stood still, then tried his weight by degrees. The step was silent.
1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLCSynonyms: in order, step by step
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseIn gradual steps; bit by bit.
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 逐漸地 /逐渐地
- 逐漸地 /逐渐地 (zhújiàn de)in gradual steps
Esperanto grade
- gradein gradual steps
Finnish asteittain
- asteittainin gradual steps
Italian a poco a poco
- a poco a pocoin gradual steps
Portuguese a pouco e pouco, gradualmente
- a pouco e poucoin gradual steps
- gradualmentein gradual steps
Russian постепе́нно, понемно́гу
- постепе́нно (postepénno)in gradual steps
- понемно́гу (ponemnógu)in gradual steps
- ма́ло-пома́лу (málo-pomálu)in gradual steps
Tamil படிப்படியாய், வரவர
- படிப்படியாய் (paṭippaṭiyāy)in gradual steps
- வரவர (varavara)in gradual steps
Welsh wrth raddau
- wrth raddauin gradual steps
Cite this entry
by degrees. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20degrees
“by degrees.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20degrees. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “by degrees,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20degrees.
Source: by degrees on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.