increment

plural increments

1. The action of increasing or becoming greater.

   the seminary that furnisheth matter for the formation and increment of animal and vegetable bodies

   1695, John Woodward, “(please specify the page)”, in An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth: And Terrestrial Bodies, Especially Minerals: […], London: […] Ric[hard] Wilkin […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   A nation, to be great, ought to be compressed in its increment by nations more civilized than itself—as Greece by Persia; and Rome by Etruria, the Italian states, and Carthage.

   1832 June 9, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Sympathy of Old Greek and Latin with English—Roman Mind—War”, in H[enry] N[elson] C[oleridge], editor, Specimens of the Table Talk of the Late Samuel Taylor Coleridge. […], volume II, London: John Murray, […], published 1835, →OCLC, page 58

   Synonyms: enlargement

2. The amount of increase.

   The others will return at night, [...] pushing their experiments and nudging their projects toward completion in small, painful increments.

   2020, Brandon Taylor, Real Life, Daunt Books Originals, page 90

   1 more example

   In the third place, the superelevation and alignment of the track, theoretically calculated for speeds of 70 to 75 m.p.h., was adequate for the 80 to 85 m.p.h. or so normally attained as maxima over the G.N. main line; but nothing whatever had been done to prepare it for the enormous increment over these figures that this run was to produce.

   1941 June, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 263

   Synonyms: addition

3. rhetoricAn amplification without strict climax, as in the following passage: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, […] think on these things."
4. board gamesThe amount of time added to a player's clock after each move.
5. grammarA syllable in excess of the number of the nominative singular or the second-person singular present indicative.

present singular third person increments · participle present incrementing · participle past incremented · past incremented

1. intransitivetransitiveTo increase by steps or by a step, especially by one.

   The first for loop looks at each word in the input line, incrementing the element of array num subscripted by the word.

   1984, Brian W. Kernighan with Rob Pike, The UNIX programming environment, page 124

   2 more examples

   ... any given value just before observing, the actual pressures must as frequently be incremented as decremented, both in the "on" and the "off" series.

   1890, H. E. J. G. Du Bois, “On Magnetic Circuits”, in Philosophical magazine, page 346

   public sector professional services recruitment, has seen a strong seasonal upturn which has incremented year on year since 2002 by an average of 12%.

   2007 January 23, “Busiest two weeks for recruiters”, in Recruiter Magazine