by degrees

prep_phrase

Definitions

  1. In gradual steps

    In gradual steps; bit by bit.

    • She came to us snappish and suspicious, but when she found what sort of place ours was, it all went off by degrees; […]
    • By degrees the libraries which were unendowed fell behind the age, and were consequently neglected.
    • When Jem put his foot on the bottom step, the step squeaked. He stood still, then tried his weight by degrees. The step was silent.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for by degrees. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA