inch by inch
7
3.7
- idiom
:
poco a poco
- The hungry waves are eating the island inch by inch.
- move inch by inch
- crawl inch by inch
- grow inch by inch
It is lonely because it is a game of just moving the ball down the field inch by inch by inch.
- It is lonely because it is a game of just moving the ball down the field inch by inch by inch.
- And this is because one of the foreign ministers in Ukraine in an interview suggested that Russia is slowly piece by piece, inch by inch, taking more land.
- And step by step, inch by inch, the leader then becomes more and more in control of the people.
- You know, we how do we build it just inch by inch and and that's a great thing because it's not something only some people can have.
- They just make brief patterns in it, inch by inch, implacable as a glacier and far colder.
Examples
-
Inch by inch, hand over hand, she climbed up toward the balloon.
Fiction book (2002) -
Each one was pulled out of him, detail by detail, inch by inch.
Fiction book (2001) -
And step by step, inch by inch, the leader then becomes more and more in control of the people.
-
We'll fight them here, inch by inch, through the town if necessary.
-
Do you measure it inch by inch, foot by foot, yard by yard, or step by step?
-
As I lowered myself inch by inch, I tested each step before I gave it my weight.
Fiction book (1990) -
Every day we make them, and they lead us steadily, inch by inch, toward our destiny.
Blog text (14) -
Cautiously, he lifted the canvas back inch by inch as if afraid of a sudden movement.
Fiction book (1996) -
And as long as I work carefully and slowly, going methodically inch by inch, I can remove this canvas without putting too much stress on the painting.
-
We moved through the forest, inch by inch, careful not to make any noise.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
At a low speed without hurrying
43
1.6
Happen gradually as each day passes
34
2.3
Gradually in small amounts over time
32
2.8
To do a task slowly, handling each part before the next
23
1.8
In a gradual way, doing each part one after another
12
2.7
A little at a time
11
4.5
Very slowly in very small steps
Happens slowly, a little at a time
Antonyms
How Slowly
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'slowly and gradually' is directly derivable from the constituents: 'inch' denotes a very small unit (or the verb 'to inch' meaning to advance slightly) and 'by' marks incremental steps, so 'inch by inch' signals movement in tiny increments. This measure-by-measure compositional pattern is common across languages and follows regular English composition, so a B1 learner who knows the parts will readily infer the idiom's meaning.
Etymology
Inch by inch comes from the picture of moving something just a little at a time, one inch after another. Imagine pushing a heavy box forward one inch at a time until it moves across the room. So it means 'slowly and gradually'.