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

With the Knicks in the Finals for the first time in a generation, New Yorkers have become increasingly unwilling to tolerate fence-sitting — even from one of the world’s most famously friendly Muppets.

From Salon • Jun. 7, 2026

Countries such as India and Mexico are increasingly worried about the strain not only on electricity but water supplies, too.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026

In the Pacific, New Zealand has become increasingly attractive to Americans since the launch of its Active Investor Plus visa in April 2025.

From Barron's • Jun. 7, 2026

As the planet continues to bake, there are also increasingly fewer ways of going about staging a World Cup.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026

But, over time, the middle ground that people like Sprat and Bentley had sought to occupy between superstition and rationalism became increasingly embattled, and the pendulum began to swing the other way.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

• more
• more and more
• progressively