one after the other
17
2.0
- idiom
:
uno tras otro
- A line of men steadily climbs up, one after the other, carrying crates of weapons.
- countries fell one after the other
The music, every song one after the other is glorious.
- The music, every song one after the other is glorious.
- But anyway, so he would would plunge all these crystals one after the other, which he'd laboriously made.
- The problem is when those micro stress doses build up one after the other.
- We just been watching because you tend to binge on them, you know, you'll watch them one after the other.
- Fall signals the tree to drop its leaves, and it does, one after the other, until the branch looks down and sees a blanket on the ground.
- So, but really I have been like having all the books that I've been requested, like I'm not buying one after the other.
- Timed perfectly, one after the other, falling through the roof as kit Jon Snow makes his way through Winterfell trying to save his brother.
- And then for further treatment, more, more years, one after the other.
- You know, remember this was years in OK, and it was small, minor, minor changes just one after the other, one after the other.
- You know, it's a, and I find that the people that just go out there and, you know, it's one after the other, whether it's men or women, they don't seem any happier.
Examples
-
And we keep stacking on one after the other until we get to the point where we reach something that is stable.
-
The children climbed the slide, going down one after the other.
-
And they came over, one after the other.
-
Three artists each draw on a third, one after the other, but only seeing half of the previous drawing.
Academic text (2005) -
The music, every song one after the other is glorious.
-
Three different groups, one after the other, will rule the world's oceans.
-
The groups were studied one after the other, within a 2-week period.
Academic text (2000) -
Each steps forward, speaks, and then retreats in turn, one after the other, in quick succession.
Academic text (1997) -
The group separated and swam one after the other, spiraling down into deeper water.
Fiction book (1996) -
Pnina ran to Olga and Natalya and kissed and hugged them, one after the other.
Fiction book (1993)
Synonyms
186
1.4
Things happen one after another, not at the same time
17
2.3
Things follow each other without a break
9
4.1
Happening one after another without a break
9
4.5
Things happen one after the other in a fixed order
3
4.4
One thing happens after another
Antonyms
How Sequential
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'occurring in immediate succession' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'one' (each single item) with 'after' (in sequence) and 'the other' (the next person/item), so the overall sense is fully compositional. This construction is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English sequencing patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The phrase one after the other paints a simple picture: one thing comes after the thing before it, like books falling in a line from a shelf. So it means 'happening in a row' with no big pause between them.