How to Use piecemeal in a Sentence

piecemeal

1 of 2 adverb
  • If not, they could be auctioned piecemeal for cents on the dollar.
    — Matt Wirz, WSJ, 10 Mar. 2023
  • It was worked piecemeal and couldn’t be held in my brain in its entirety.
    — David Means, Harper's magazine, 10 Apr. 2019
  • The new wheel will be made off-site then shipped piecemeal to Cincinnati.
    — Scott Wartman, Cincinnati.com, 18 Feb. 2020
  • But efforts are under way to change that, even if progress has been piecemeal.
    — Melissa Korn, WSJ, 8 Apr. 2017
  • Only if no one bites on the collection as a whole will it be sold piecemeal.
    — Mark Pratt, USA TODAY, 14 Jan. 2020
  • Not all of the jewelry would be broken down and sold piecemeal.
    — Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2022
  • The rest of it remains scattered piecemeal in public schools across the city.
    — Aimee Levitt, Chicago Reader, 23 Mar. 2018
  • The answers have been emerging piecemeal to me – laying there as pieces in a puzzle.
    — Jordan A. Rothacker, SPIN, 31 Dec. 2022
  • Tackle the whole thing, or take it on piecemeal by planning a trip for one of the sections below.
    — Megan Michelson, Outside Online, 17 Apr. 2019
  • Tiangong go up piecemeal, assembled one module at a time over years.
    — Rahul Rao, Popular Science, 3 Jan. 2023
  • Thousands of pounds of the Brenham meteorite have been pulled from the fields piecemeal.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 4 Apr. 2018
  • Often taking cues from the president’s words, state by state measures were rolled out piecemeal.
    — Isaac Sebenius, STAT, 19 June 2020
  • To avoid feeling overwhelmed by this task, tackle it piecemeal, a room, closet, shelf, drawer at a time.
    — Jane E. Brody, charlotteobserver, 27 June 2018
  • Reyes has received piecemeal offers but no offers to take the pennies completely out of their hands.
    — Gabe Hauari, USA TODAY, 9 June 2023
  • The campus science labs alone are home to millions of dollars of high-value equipment, which could be sold piecemeal.
    — Gordon R. Friedman, OregonLive.com, 21 May 2017
  • Storied efforts to reverse their injuries have been piecemeal-to-paltry, or dead in the water.
    — Kevin Spear, orlandosentinel.com, 9 Dec. 2020
  • And the White House has released information piecemeal rather than all at once.
    — Brian Bennett, Time, 20 Jan. 2023
  • And, while expensive, these tokens can be bought in piecemeal, and the end result has a longevity that clothing doesn’t.
    — Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 27 Sep. 2023
  • Granted, that big $800 discount is served to you piecemeal as monthly bill credits.
    — Antonio G. Di Benedetto, The Verge, 20 Mar. 2023
  • The question in the case was whether the government had to provide all of the information at once or could do so piecemeal.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 29 Apr. 2021
  • Rather than buying all these tools piecemeal over the years, smart homeowners buy tool sets and multi-use tools that take care of a wide range of duties.
    — Maren Estrada, BGR, 12 Apr. 2021
  • It could be divided piecemeal based on who ordered what, by uploading a picture of the receipt.
    — Meredith Carey, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Sep. 2019
  • Instead of buying all your tools piecemeal over the years, smart homeowners might buy tool sets and multi-use tools that take care of a wide range of tasks.
    — Maren Estrada, BGR, 14 June 2021
  • As social justice movements swept the country over the past year, the industry has inched toward change, piecemeal.
    — New York Times, 28 May 2021
  • Around April 15 there's going to be a huge burst of those stories, even though most of us pay our taxes piecemeal all through the year.
    — Robert Goulder, Forbes, 13 Apr. 2022
  • Much of the work has been rolled out piecemeal over the years, with offices consolidated and financial changes issued.
    — Arkansas Online, 20 Mar. 2022
  • Railroads have been installing the technology piecemeal across the country at a cost of billions of dollars.
    — Bart Jansen, USA TODAY, 3 Jan. 2018
  • When the widow ran into debt with the town and couldn't repay, her property, including more than a half dozen slaves, were seized and sold off piecemeal.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 17 June 2022
  • Because the state has refused to release the names of nursing homes with outbreaks, the information emerges piecemeal.
    — Arizona Republic, 19 May 2020
  • Martin, the 47th Ward alderman, said the city’s approach to bike safety has been piecemeal over the years.
    — Sarah Freishtat, Chicago Tribune, 15 June 2022

piecemeal

2 of 2 adjective
  • They've done piecemeal repairs in the past, but the bridge now needs major reconstruction.
  • Some people want the changes to be made all at once, but I think we should take a more piecemeal approach.
  • This will no longer be a piecemeal roster build.
    — Pat Leonard, New York Daily News, 23 Feb. 2026
  • More piecemeal placement may be in the works.
    — Brian Steinberg, Variety, 5 Feb. 2026
  • So this is- this is the first step in that sort of piecemeal approach.
    — CBS News, 7 May 2023
  • But piecemeal efforts are not enough.
    — Mark Hagerott, Fortune, 5 Nov. 2025
  • What makes matters worse is that all the reforms have been piecemeal.
    — Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz, 18 Aug. 2021
  • In the meantime, enough with Hamas and this piecemeal crap on hostages.
    — David Weigel, semafor.com, 5 Aug. 2025
  • But those piecemeal moves have so far failed to reverse sentiment and lift the sector.
    — Lingling Wei, WSJ, 14 Nov. 2022
  • Native plants can be added to the landscape piecemeal or in a landscape overhaul.
    — Special To The Denver Post, Denver Post, 31 Aug. 2025
  • The state has offered more piecemeal grants in recent years, but those funds are unpredictable.
    — Miranda Dunlap, jsonline.com, 6 Mar. 2026
  • In the company’s view, such piecemeal offerings can no longer stand.
    — Brian Steinberg, Variety, 20 Oct. 2025
  • But help is slow, piecemeal, and not close to the scale that would match the severity of the crises low-income countries face.
    — Mark Suzman september 8, Foreign Affairs, 8 Sep. 2023
  • The Texas country music singer-songwriter is back — in a piecemeal way.
    — Dallas News, 23 Nov. 2022
  • Translating those songs live, because they were made piecemeal, has been very challenging.
    — Jonathan Cohen, SPIN, 25 Apr. 2022
  • Those piecemeal approaches have helped provide a measure of safety.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 18 May 2025
  • The release follows a years-long legal battle and piecemeal disclosures.
    — Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 4 Jan. 2024
  • That spending will be more efficient than Congress moving a piecemeal bill every month.
    — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 17 May 2022
  • Take the piecemeal way in which the United States has doled out military support to Ukraine.
    — Sam Greene, Foreign Affairs, 22 Sep. 2023
  • That is the sort of piecemeal change the town could pursue, while not picking on residents of any one neighborhood, Pugh said.
    — Brian Amaral, BostonGlobe.com, 22 July 2022
  • There have been a few piecemeal attempts to exercise more direct control over what happens in the college classroom.
    — Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2025
  • The recovery from the quake so far has been piecemeal and ad hoc — some restoration of schools, sidewalks and marketplaces and some light home repairs.
    — Raja Abdulrahim Nicole Tung, New York Times, 27 Aug. 2023
  • The piecemeal construction will allow the public to enjoy the park before the full funding is secured.
    — Sylvia Goodman, The Courier-Journal, 7 Aug. 2021
  • Indeed, the company has taken a piecemeal approach to bringing its high-end kitchen series to market.
    — Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 10 Sep. 2021
  • And these estimates were predicated on the assumption of mass debt relief, not piecemeal sums like these.
    — Noah Rothman, National Review, 9 Oct. 2023
  • In the meantime, the industry is looking at piecemeal solutions.
    — Mark Ellwood, Robb Report, 21 May 2022
  • The entire project will be completed at one time and during a five-year time frame instead of a piecemeal project that could extend for several decades.
    — al, 22 Dec. 2021
  • Among the more imaginable steps would be a piecemeal sweep of assets by the government for cash to soften the blow for urban families.
    — Anne Stevenson-Yang, Forbes, 24 Sep. 2021
  • An unlikely hit given its piecemeal arrangement, vocal effects and bird chirps.
    — Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 18 June 2026
  • Waffling, piecemeal proposals, a potpourri of reforms, and a lack of courage will ensure that little changes.
    — Wendell Wallach, Hartford Courant, 25 June 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'piecemeal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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