Gradually vs Piecemeal - What's the difference?
gradually | piecemeal |
In a gradual manner; making slow progress; slowly.
(obsolete) by degrees
Made or done in pieces or one stage at a time.
* 1947 -
* 1953 , James Strachey, translation of , Avon Books, pg. 224:
Piece by piece; in small amounts, stages, or degrees.
* 1914 -
Into pieces or parts.
* 1888 - (London), October 03
As adverbs the difference between gradually and piecemeal
is that gradually is in a gradual manner; making slow progress; slowly while piecemeal is piece by piece; in small amounts, stages, or degrees.As an adjective piecemeal is
made or done in pieces or one stage at a time.As a verb piecemeal is
to divide or distribute piecemeal; dismember.As a noun piecemeal is
a fragment; a scrap.gradually
English
Adverb
(-)- Human reason doth not only gradually , but specifically, differ from the fantastic reason of brutes. — Grew.
piecemeal
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Such assistance, I am convinced, must not be on a piecemeal basis, as various crises develop.
- 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.
Usage notes
Nouns to which "piecemeal" is often applied: fashion, approach, basis, way, change, reform, measure.Derived terms
* piecemeal approachQuotations
* (English Citations of "piecemeal")See also
* gradual * incrementalAdverb
(en adverb)- 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.
- 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.