: done, made, or accomplished piece by piece or in a fragmentary way
piecemeal reforms in the system
Examples of piecemeal in a Sentence
Adverb
remodeled their house piecemeal because of budgetary constraints
one well-aimed blow ripped the piñata piecemeal
Adjective
They've done piecemeal repairs in the past, but the bridge now needs major reconstruction.
Some people want the changes to be made all at once, but I think we should take a more piecemeal approach.
Recent Examples on the Web
Yevhen Parokhod, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
Characteristically, McMurtry wasn’t keen on being the subject of a full biography; Streitfeld, after befriending him, won his cooperation piecemeal.
—The Week Us, TheWeek, 21 Apr. 2026
Chris Rosenberg, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026
What the New Name Means for Treatment The rename also targets treatment that has long been piecemeal — birth control for acne, fertility drugs for pregnancy, with the metabolic picture left untouched.
—Samantha Agate, Sacbee.com, 20 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for piecemeal
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Adverb
Teams are busy doing their day-to-day work and putting out fires, and the information ends up living piecemeal across disparate systems or, worse, in different people’s heads.
—Yevhen Parokhod, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
Characteristically, McMurtry wasn’t keen on being the subject of a full biography; Streitfeld, after befriending him, won his cooperation piecemeal.
—The Week Us, TheWeek, 21 Apr. 2026
Adjective
The vast majority are still experimenting, running isolated pilots, or deploying AI in piecemeal ways that have yet to generate measurable enterprise-wide impact.
—Chris Rosenberg, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026
What the New Name Means for Treatment The rename also targets treatment that has long been piecemeal — birth control for acne, fertility drugs for pregnancy, with the metabolic picture left untouched.
—Samantha Agate, Sacbee.com, 20 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for piecemeal
Cite this Entry
“Piecemeal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/piecemeal. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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