piecemeal

1. idiomaticnot comparableMade or done in pieces or one stage at a time.

   a piecemeal approach

   5 more examples

   Near-synonyms: piecewise, stepwise; see also Thesaurus:gradual

   Such assistance, I am convinced, must not be on a piecemeal basis, as various crises develop.

   1947, George Marshall, The Marshall Plan Speech

   But the copious and intertwined associative links warrant our accepting the former alternative: cyclamen—favourite flower—favourite food— artichokes; pulling to pieces like an artichoke, leaf by leaf (a phrase constantly ringing in our ears in relation to the piecemeal dismemberment of the Chinese Empire)—herbarium—bookworms, whose favourite food is books.

   1953, James Strachey, translation of Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, Avon Books, pg. 224

   We should not underestimate European laypeople. They were perfectly capable of thinking for themselves, particularly about death, a religious theme in which everyone had an investment and about which everyone was likely to have an opinion. There is no need to invoke the idea of systematic pagan survival to account for this: Europe’s mass Christianization had been a steady if piecemeal process from the sixth century through to the fourteenth.

   2003, Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation: A History, Penguin, →ISBN, page 16

   “This takes us away from the piecemeal, bit by bit approach,” said Cathleen Curran Myers, the Pennsylvania representative on the basin commission.

   2007 October 2, Anthony Depalma, “City Agrees to Help Regulate Delaware River by Releasing Water From Reservoirs”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 05 Jun 2015

   Synonyms: piecewise, stepwise, incremental, gradual, piecewise, slow, stepwise

1. not comparablePiece by piece; in small amounts, stages, or degrees.

   The Western Region route, by contrast, was built up piecemeal and was not shaped in its present form until 1910.

   1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Past, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 96

   2 more examples

   It’s as bad as selling a man a horse with half a dozen latent vices and watching him discover them piecemeal in the course of the hunting season.

   1914, Saki, The Forbidden Buzzards

   The Government is under fresh pressure not to sell off piecemeal the route of the abandoned northern extension to Manchester until extra rail capacity has been clearly identified.

   2024 May 1, Howard Johnston, “Network News: TfN plan reiterates plea to preserve abandoned HS2 land”, in RAIL, number 1008, page 12

   Synonyms: little by little

2. not comparableInto pieces or parts.

   Stoop villaine, ſtoop, ſtoope for ſo he bids, That may commaund thee peecemeale to be torne, Or ſcattered like the lofty Cedar trees. Strooke with the voice of thundring Iupiter.

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act IIII, scene ii

   1 more example

   A few years ago also there was the case of Kate Webster, who at Richmond murdered her mistress, and, fiend-like, cut the body up piecemeal, and tried to dispose of it in various ways by small portions.

   1888 October 3, “The Whitehall Murder”, in Daily Telegraph, London

   Synonyms: apart

present singular third person piecemeals · participle present piecemealing · participle past piecemealed · past piecemealed

1. transitiveTo divide or distribute piecemeal; dismember.

   Synonyms: apportion, mete out, parcel out, distribute

plural piecemeals

1. A fragment; a scrap.

   Thus the world Is all to piecemeals cut

   a. 1695, Henry Vaughan, Ode

   1 more example

   The fairest towns that ever the sun rose upon, are now no more: the names only are left, and those (for many of them are wrong spelt) are falling themselves by piecemeals to decay.

   1762, Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy (V.iii)

   Synonyms: bit, lump, portion