as in gradually
by small steps or amounts
little by little, we pieced together the jigsaw puzzle
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Recent Examples of little by little
But the scrappy Padres battled back – little by little.
—
Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2025
The Padres on Sunday battled back little by little, got even in the top of the eighth inning, and then ran into the same old L.A. story.
—Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Aug. 2025
Many of those problems have persisted, but little by little, foldables have gotten better.
—ArsTechnica, 31 July 2025
Overall, the wall of worry has been crumbling little by little over the past four months.
—Yun Li, CNBC, 26 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for little by little
Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2025
The Padres on Sunday battled back little by little, got even in the top of the eighth inning, and then ran into the same old L.A. story.
—Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Aug. 2025
Many of those problems have persisted, but little by little, foldables have gotten better.
—ArsTechnica, 31 July 2025
Overall, the wall of worry has been crumbling little by little over the past four months.
—Yun Li, CNBC, 26 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for little by little
Recent Examples of Synonyms for little by little
gradually
Adverb
-
Multi-club ownership groups gradually eroding the identity of those clubs.—
Nick Miller,
New York Times,
24 Sep. 2025
-
To study this new phase, the team gradually heated the crystal from frozen to liquid conditions.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
23 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Little by little.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/little%20by%20little. Accessed 1 Oct. 2025.
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