"piecemeal" in the adjective sense
1. bit-by-bit, in small stages, piecemeal, step-by-step, stepwise
one thing at a time
"piecemeal" in the adverb sense
1. piecemeal, little by little, bit by bit, in stages
a little bit at a time
"the research structure has developed piecemeal"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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