inch by inch
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It happened place by place, inch by inch, a dusty disco ball left in the rummage while a Starbucks or a boutique gym rose to serve the freshly gentrified block around it.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
He shows little faith in quiet progress, as in: Set good policy in place and hope it succeeds inch by inch.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Instead, firefighters and public works employees were covering the site inch by inch with soil dredged from a nearby site.
From Barron's ● Apr. 30, 2026
The Prince of Wales was behind a film camera, being rolled along tracks, gradually closing in on a journalist, inch by inch.
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2025
Very slowly, inch by inch, as the boy struggled not to sink, she crept out until the tip of the branch nearly touched the water.
From "The Midwife's Apprentice" by Karen Cushman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
