piecemeal

piecemeal
    adv 1: a little bit at a time; "the research structure has
           developed piecemeal" [syn: {piecemeal}, {little by
           little}, {bit by bit}, {in stages}]
    adj 1: one thing at a time [syn: {bit-by-bit}, {in small
           stages}, {piecemeal}, {step-by-step}, {stepwise}]
    

Piecemeal \Piece"meal`\, adv. [OE. pecemele; pece a piece + AS.
   m?lum, dat. pl. of m?l part. See {Meal} a portion.]
   1. In pieces; in parts or fragments. "On which it piecemeal
      brake." --Chapman.
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            The beasts will tear thee piecemeal.  --Tennyson.
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   2. Piece by piece; by little and little in succession.
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            Piecemeal they win, this acre first, than that.
                                                  --Pope.
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Piecemeal \Piece"meal`\, n.
   A fragment; a scrap. --R. Vaughan.
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Piecemeal \Piece"meal`\, a.
   Made up of parts or pieces; single; separate. "These
   piecemeal guilts." --Gov. of Tongue.
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40 Moby Thesaurus words for "piecemeal":
      adrift, apart, apart from, aside from, asunder, away from,
      bit by bit, by degrees, by inches, by inchmeal, by snatches,
      disjointed, drop by drop, fitfully, foot by foot, fragmentary,
      gradual, gradually, in detail, in driblets, in installments,
      in lots, in small doses, in snatches, in the abstract, in twain,
      in two, inch by inch, inchmeal, intermittently, little by little,
      one by one, part by part, piece by piece, separately, severally,
      slowly, sporadic, sporadically, step-by-step