piecemeal

WOTD - 26 December 2007    

English

Pronunciation

• (RP, US) IPA: /ˈpiːs.miːl/, SAMPA: /"pi:s.mi:l/

• Audio (US)

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Etymology

Middle English pecemeale, from pece + mele (from Old English mǣlum (“at a time”), dative plural form of mǣl), equivalent to piece +‎ -meal.

Adjective

piecemeal (comparative more piecemeal, superlative most piecemeal)

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

Usage notes

Nouns to which "piecemeal" is often applied: fashion, approach, basis, way, change, reform, measure.

Quotations

• For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.

Translations

Made or done in pieces or one stage at a time

Finnish: vähittäinen (fi), asteittainen (fi), askelittainen (fi) Polish: fragmentaryczny (pl) m., wyrywkowy (pl) m.

Russian: постепенный (ru) (postepénnyj), пошаговый (ru) (pošágovyj) Spanish: deslavazado, poco sistemático

See also

• gradual
• incremental

Adverb

piecemeal (comparative more piecemeal, superlative most piecemeal)

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.

2. Into pieces or parts.
   • 1888 - The Whitehall Murder, Daily Telegraph (London), October 03

     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.

Quotations

• For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.

Translations

piece by piece

Dutch: mondjesmaat (nl) Finnish: asteittain, vähä vähältä, pala palalta (fi) Old English: brytmǽlum (ang) Polish: po trochu, po kawałku

Russian: по частям (ru) (po častjám), постепенно (ru) (postepénno) Scottish Gaelic: mean air mhean (gd) Spanish: deslavazadamente, desordenadamente

into pieces or parts

Dutch: met stukjes en beetjes (nl) Finnish: palasiksi (fi)

Polish: na kawałki (pl) Russian: на куски (ru) (na kuskí), на части (ru) (na části)