adjective / adverb
piecemeal
PEES-meel/pˈismˌil/
Done in separate parts rather than all at once.
The woman completes the mosaic piecemeal, adding one small section at a time.
Etymology
Combined with piece, meal preserves an old meaning of “time” or “occasion,” in a form meaning “at a time.” Thus piecemeal describes proceeding one piece at a time, rather than all at once.
In context
it's really hard to be complete and to do good work when you're doing piecemeal with like like small pieces of volunteers who are at different levels of training because you don't know what somebody finished
More examples
- A piecemeal approach leaves some problems unresolved.
- We buy the equipment piecemeal instead of ordering everything together.
- The report arrives piecemeal over several weeks.
Similar words
- incremental
- Emphasizes small successive changes rather than separate, possibly uncoordinated parts.
- gradual
- Emphasizes slow progress, not necessarily division into separate parts.