Library / English Dictionary

GRADUALLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

In a gradual manner

Example:

the snake moved gradually toward its victim

Synonyms:

bit by bit; gradually; step by step

Classified under:

Adverbs

Pertainym:

gradual (proceeding in small stages)

Credits

 Context examples: 

All that we have any business to know is that John did not appear to object, judging from the changes which gradually took place in the house and its inmates.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Gradually her eyes closed, and she sat, stock still; only by the gentle heaving of her bosom could one know that she was alive.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Throughout time all cells age gradually, contributing to the development of several diseases.

(Scientists Discover Molecule that Could Reverse Cellular Aging, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Tiny variations in the flow of the gas and the pull of gravity gradually formed the stars and the galaxies in the Universe we know today.

(Half Our Body's Atoms Could Have Come from Outside The Galaxy, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

But the appearance of my father was to me like that of my good angel, and I gradually recovered my health.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

In the meantime, the captain gradually brightened up at his own music, and at last flapped his hand upon the table before him in a way we all knew to mean silence.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Symptoms begin gradually, often on one side of the body.

(Parkinson's Disease, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

Gradually he worked Jim back into an angle of the ropes from which there was no escape, and then, when he had him fairly penned, he sprang upon him like a tiger.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And then, gradually, I understood that it was more than dislike.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

After insertion of this system into the uterus, the device slowly and gradually releases the hormone.

(Levonorgestrel-Releasing Intrauterine System, NCI Thesaurus)