Piecemeal vs Fragmented - What's the difference?
piecemeal | fragmented |
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 adjectives the difference between piecemeal and fragmented
is that piecemeal is made or done in pieces or one stage at a time while fragmented is broken into fragments.As verbs the difference between piecemeal and fragmented
is that piecemeal is to divide or distribute piecemeal; dismember while fragmented is (fragment).As an adverb piecemeal
is piece by piece; in small amounts, stages, or degrees.As a noun piecemeal
is a fragment; a scrap.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.
