Synonyms

one by one

Idioms

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.

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.

Pratt declined interview requests and did not give a speech, opting instead to talk to voters one by one in Sherman Oaks.

From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026

The diplomats, Sherman explained, sat in a horseshoe formation and spoke one by one.

From Slate • May 1, 2026

I suppose I could disable all these notices, laboriously one by one.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026

This speed comes from what Fontaine calls "parallelisation": instead of human interviewers working one by one, AI agents can conduct many interviews simultaneously.

From BBC • Apr. 30, 2026

Michael turned over the CD and read the list of tracks aloud, one by one.

From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly

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