piecemeal

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.

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˈpiːs.miːl/

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piecemeal (not comparable)

1. Made or done in pieces or one stage at a time.

   Synonyms: stepwise; see also Thesaurus:gradual

   • 1947, George Marshall, The Marshall Plan Speech:

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

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

     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.

   • 2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes‎, page 312:

     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.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:piecemeal.

• piecemeal approach

piecemeal (not comparable)

1. Piece by piece; in small amounts, stages, or degrees.
   • 1914, Saki, The Forbidden Buzzards:

     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.

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

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

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

     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.

2. Into pieces or parts.
   • c. 1587–1588, [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:

     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.

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

     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.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:piecemeal.

• (piece by piece): little by little, bit by bit; see also Thesaurus:incrementally
• (into pieces or parts): apart; see also Thesaurus:asunder

piecemeal (third-person singular simple present piecemeals, present participle piecemealing, simple past and past participle piecemealed)

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

• apportion, mete out, parcel out; see also Thesaurus:divide or Thesaurus:distribute

• piecemealing

piecemeal (plural piecemeals)

1. A fragment; a scrap.
   • a. 1695, Henry Vaughan, Ode:

     Thus the world Is all to piecemeals cut

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

     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.

• bit, lump, portion; see also Thesaurus:piece