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.

---

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

Laguarta’s comments come as shoppers continue to seek ways to cut their grocery bills, and as big consumer-goods makers increasingly fight retailers’ store brands for shelf space and consumers’ attention.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 16, 2026

“Bond markets grow increasingly numb to headlines out of the Middle East with supply and European Central Bank color in focus,” Commerzbank’s Hauke Siemssen said in a note.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

The researchers emphasize that reducing both the use of these feedstocks and their leakage is becoming increasingly important, especially as global demand for products like plastics continues to grow.

From Science Daily • Apr. 16, 2026

"Social media companies' increasingly powerful algorithms have caused concern across the population, with young people and parents telling us that they experience struggles to disengage from the online world," she said.

From BBC • Apr. 15, 2026

And increasingly, I discovered that I loved it.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Related Words

• more
• more and more
• progressively