inchmeal information
- noun
:
información gradual
- The manager shared the project updates as inchmeal information, leaving the team eager for more details.
Examples
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The investigation released inchmeal information to the public to control rumors and speculation.
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The report provided inchmeal information over several weeks.
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She disliked receiving inchmeal information and preferred to know everything upfront.
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Can we expect inchmeal information on the project's progress?
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The investigation released inchmeal information to the public, ensuring they received updates gradually.
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The manager preferred to give inchmeal information to the team rather than overwhelming them with everything at once.
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During the meeting, we received inchmeal information about the upcoming changes to our policies.
How Gradual
17
7.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
inchmeal + information
The adjective 'inchmeal' is rare and not a common lexical item, but its meaning 'bit by bit' can be partially inferred from 'inch' (a small unit) and the familiar composition pattern meaning 'by small parts' (cf. piecemeal). Because understanding depends on recognizing a less transparent morphological pattern and some lexical inference rather than straightforward composition, a B1 learner would only be able to guess the meaning sometimes.
Etymology
Inchmeal information comes from the image of giving news in very small amounts: inch means a tiny length and meal suggests a small serving. One popular idea is it is like feeding someone one small bite at a time, so it means information given 'bit by bit' or 'slowly' rather than all at once.