piecemeal

• POS: Adjective, Adverb
• HYPHEN: piece=meal

CIDE DICTIONARY

piecemeal, adv. [OE. pecemele; pece a piece + AS. mlum, dat. pl. of ml part. See Meal a portion.].

•  In pieces; in parts or fragments.  Chapman.  [1913 Webster]

  "The beasts will tear thee piecemeal."  [1913 Webster]
•  Piece by piece; by little and little in succession.  [1913 Webster]

  "Piecemeal they win, this acre first, than that."  [1913 Webster]

piecemeal, a. 

 Made up of parts or pieces; single; separate.  Gov. of Tongue.  [1913 Webster]

piecemeal, n. 

 A fragment; a scrap.  R. Vaughan.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

piecemeal, adv. & adj.
--adv. piece by piece; gradually.
--adj. partial; gradual; unsystematic.

Etymology

ME f. PIECE + - meal f. OE m{aelig}lum (instr. dative pl. of m{aelig}l MEAL(1))

THESAURUS

piecemeal

adrift, apart, apart from, aside from, asunder, away from, bit by bit, by degrees, by inches, by inchmeal, by snatches, disjointed, drop by drop, fitfully, foot by foot, fragmentary, gradual, gradually, in detail, in driblets, in installments, in lots, in small doses, in snatches, in the abstract, in twain, in two, inch by inch, inchmeal, intermittently, little by little, one by one, part by part, piece by piece, separately, severally, slowly, sporadic, sporadically, step-by-step

ROGET THESAURUS

piecemeal

Part

N part, portion, dose, item, particular, aught, any, division, ward, subdivision, section, chapter, clause, count, paragraph, verse, article, passage, sector, segment, fraction, fragment, cantle, frustum, detachment, parcel, piece, lump, bit cut, cutting, chip, chunk, collop, slice, scale, lamina, small part, morsel, particle, installment, dividend, share, debris, odds and ends, oddments, detritus, excerpta, member, limb, lobe, lobule, arm, wing, scion, branch, bough, joint, link, offshoot, ramification, twig, bush, spray, sprig, runner, leaf, leaflet, stump, component part, sarmentum, compartment, department, county, fractional, fragmentary, sectional, aliquot, divided, in compartments, multifid, disconnected, partial, partly, in part, partially, piecemeal, part by part, by by installments, by snatches, by inches, by driblets, bit by bit, inch by inch, foot by foot, drop by drop, in detail, in lots.