dribs and drabs

American  

plural noun

1. small and usually irregular amounts.

   He repaid the loan in dribs and drabs.

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dribs and drabs British  

/ drɪbz /

plural noun

1. small sporadic amounts

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dribs and drabs Idioms  

1. Bits and pieces, negligible amounts, as in There's not much left, just some dribs and drabs of samples. The noun drib is thought to be a shortening of driblet, for “drop” or “tiny quantity,” dating from the early 1700s, whereas drab meaning “a small sum of money” dates from the early 1800s.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dribs and drabs

They should have the candor to admit this openly to Europe, Congress and the American public, rather than do it in stealthy dribs and drabs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026

In a speech to the European Parliament Tuesday, he pointed to export licences "issued in dribs and drabs" and said deliveries were falling behind schedule.

From Barron's ● Nov. 25, 2025

And it's not until more trickles of information started pouring out in dribs and drabs that I started to wonder, "What's the bigger story here, and what actually happened?"

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2024

From there, the hacked emails were released by WikiLeaks in dribs and drabs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2024

They would trickle out in dribs and drabs, memories surfacing suddenly, prompted by the merest thread, the way memories often do.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng