Dictionary

piecemeal en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈpiːs.miːl/ (Received-Pronunciation, US)
• (US) audio
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From Middle English pecemele, from pece (“piece”) + mele (from Old English mǣlum (“at a time”), dative plural form of mǣl (“time, measure”), taking the place of Old English styċċemǣlum (“in pieces, bit by bit, piecemeal; to pieces, to bits; here and there, in different places; little by little, by degrees, gradually”); equivalent to piece + -meal.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, not-comparable) Made or done in pieces or one stage at a time.
   • “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:
   • Such assistance, I am convinced, must not be on a piecemeal basis, as various crises develop. 1947, George Marshall, The Marshall Plan Speech:
   • The dictionaries themselves cover this additional lexis in what can best be described as a piecemeal fashion, with an obvious but unwarranted bias towards colonial era lexis. 2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes, page 312:
   • a piecemeal approach
   • 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:
   • 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
   • Near-synonyms: piecewise, stepwise; see also Thesaurus:gradual

Deriveds

piecemealing · piecemealwise

Synonyms

piecemeal · piecewise · slow · incremental · stepwise · stepwise · gradual · piecewise

Translations (26)

de in kleinen Schritten (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · ru поша́говый (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · fi askelittainen (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · pt fragmentada (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · fi vähittäinen (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · is smám saman (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · pl fragmentaryczny (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · es por partes (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · bg постепе́нен (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · de scheibchenweise (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · de stückweise (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · mi kōhikohiko (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · uk поета́пний (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · de kleinteilig (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · uk покро́ковий (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · uk фрагмента́рний (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · pl wyrywkowy (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · mi tūāporoporo (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · fi paloittainen (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · de häppchenweise (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · pt fragmentado (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · fi asteittainen (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · ru постепе́нный (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · it frammentario (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · de bruchstückhaft (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time) · bg ета́пен (made or done in pieces or one stage at a time)

piecemeal en · ADV

Pronunciation

• /ˈpiːs.miːl/ (Received-Pronunciation, US)
• (US) audio
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From Middle English pecemele, from pece (“piece”) + mele (from Old English mǣlum (“at a time”), dative plural form of mǣl (“time, measure”), taking the place of Old English styċċemǣlum (“in pieces, bit by bit, piecemeal; to pieces, to bits; here and there, in different places; little by little, by degrees, gradually”); equivalent to piece + -meal.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Piece 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:
   • 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:
2. (not-comparable) Into 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:
   • 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

little by little (piece by piece) · apart (into pieces or parts) · bit by bit

Translations (34)

ru на куски́ (into pieces or parts) · ru на ча́сти (into pieces or parts) · de häppchenweise (piece by piece) · fi pala palalta (piece by piece) · pl po trochu (piece by piece) · ru постепе́нно (piece by piece) · uk поступо́во (piece by piece) · uk части́нами (piece by piece) · fi palasiksi (into pieces or parts) · pl po kawałku (piece by piece) · nl mondjesmaat (piece by piece) · bg на парче (piece by piece) · bg едно по едно (piece by piece) · la intercīsē (piece by piece) · pl na kawałki (into pieces or parts) · de in Portiönchen (piece by piece) · ang brytmǣlum (piece by piece) · de einzeln (piece by piece) · fi vähä vähältä (piece by piece) · uk на шматки́ (into pieces or parts) · ang dǣlmǣlum (piece by piece) · de in Einzelteile (into pieces or parts) · ru по частя́м (piece by piece) · es por partes (piece by piece) · de scheibchenweise (piece by piece) · gd mean air mhean (piece by piece) · es en partes/piezas/pedazos (into pieces or parts) · la carptim (piece by piece) · pt aos poucos (piece by piece) · uk на части́ни (into pieces or parts) · ang styċċemǣlum (piece by piece) · fi asteittain (piece by piece) · nl met stukjes en beetjes (into pieces or parts) · de Stück für Stück (piece by piece)

piecemeal en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpiːs.miːl/ (Received-Pronunciation, US)
• (US) audio
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From Middle English pecemele, from pece (“piece”) + mele (from Old English mǣlum (“at a time”), dative plural form of mǣl (“time, measure”), taking the place of Old English styċċemǣlum (“in pieces, bit by bit, piecemeal; to pieces, to bits; here and there, in different places; little by little, by degrees, gradually”); equivalent to piece + -meal.

Meanings

1. A fragment; a scrap.
   • Thus the world Is all to piecemeals cut a. 1695, Henry Vaughan, Ode:
   • 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):

Forms

Synonyms

bit · lump · portion

piecemeal en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈpiːs.miːl/ (Received-Pronunciation, US)
• (US) audio
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From Middle English pecemele, from pece (“piece”) + mele (from Old English mǣlum (“at a time”), dative plural form of mǣl (“time, measure”), taking the place of Old English styċċemǣlum (“in pieces, bit by bit, piecemeal; to pieces, to bits; here and there, in different places; little by little, by degrees, gradually”); equivalent to piece + -meal.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To divide or distribute piecemeal; dismember.

Forms

Deriveds

piecemealing

Synonyms

mete out · distribute · parcel out · apportion