increasingly

American

[in-kree-sing-lee] / ɪnˈkri sɪŋ li /

adverb

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.

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.

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Still, the broader technical picture appears increasingly tired, and a retest of that breakout level looks like a reasonable near-term possibility.

From Barron's • May 15, 2026

Fed-funds futures and the bond markets are increasingly pricing in the possibility that the Fed won’t cut its benchmark interest rate in 2026 — and that policymakers may even be considering a rate hike.

From MarketWatch • May 15, 2026

Investors have become increasingly pessimistic that the U.S. and Iran will reach an agreement soon that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and bring down energy prices.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026

Pochynok, of Islington, north London, had his evidence halted when Judge Mr Justice Garnham said he was "increasingly concerned about the accuracy of the interpretation" by the male Ukrainian interpreter.

From BBC • May 15, 2026

But such a model becomes increasingly complicated as we try to describe the behaviour of things further and further away from Earth, across the Solar System.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023