one by one

Idioms  

1. Also, one at a time. Individually in succession, as in The ducklings jumped into the pond one by one, or One at a time they went into the office. Formerly also put as one and one and one after one, this idiom dates from about a.d. 1000.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

one by one

As Padam Singh and Tulsi count down the days, the handful of villagers around them leave one by one, until the couple find themselves alone in the vast mountain landscape.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

In the following months, every appliance died, one by one.

From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2026

During the “Berghain” remix, Rosalía’s dancers drop to the floor as if shot by a sniper, going down one by one with each thunderous drum hit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026

The spacecraft was then hoisted onto a specialized ship, and the four occupants -- Meir, American Jack Hathaway, French astronaut Sophie Adenot and Russian cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev -- were helped out one by one.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

I felt them crash down one by one.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

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