increasingly

American  

[in-kree-sing-lee] / ɪnˈkri sɪŋ li /

adverb

1. to an ever greater degree; more and more: Marketers are increasingly using video to create meaningful emotional connections with their consumers.

   He became increasingly nervous and overwrought and began to suffer bouts of depression.

   Marketers are increasingly using video to create meaningful emotional connections with their consumers.

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Etymology

Origin of increasingly

increasing ( def. ) + -ly

Explanation

This adverb applies to anything that is happening more often, in greater numbers, or with greater intensity. An increasingly hot summer keeps getting hotter. To increase something is to add to it numerically, like increasing the size of your family by having a baby. Anything that happens increasingly is growing in some way. An increasingly depressed person keeps getting sadder. An increasingly sick patient keeps getting worse. An increasingly corrupt government is getting less and less honest. When you see this word, you know something is intensifying.

Example Sentences

Instead, the latest developments point towards increasingly complex negotiations between Fifa, Tehran and US authorities over the conditions surrounding Iran's participation at the largest World Cup in history.

From BBC • May 9, 2026

Experts, however, say not only is it real, it’s become increasingly common in recent years.

From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2026

While the colloquial understanding of an MTS is an AI researcher at a lab, it’s increasingly become a “catch-all” label at the intersection of AI and engineering, according to Clark.

From MarketWatch • May 9, 2026

One consequence of that: Months when the economy happens to lose jobs, such as February, could be an increasingly frequent occurrence that doesn’t necessarily signal the labor market is in trouble.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 9, 2026

He’d been doing this since they first met, but increasingly he was making her feel uneducated.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

Related Words

• more
• more and more
• progressively