progressively
Americanadverb
-
by degrees or stages; incrementally.
If the disease remains unchecked, the rate of infection in the herd increases progressively over time.
Over a five-year period, she became progressively weaker.
-
in a way characterized by or favoring improvement, reform, advances in social policy or conditions, more enlightened ideas, etc..
Imagine a political party that actually wants America to be governed progressively.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of progressively
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.
Beginning Monday, temperatures will dip slightly — roughly one to three degrees — before progressively dropping throughout the week.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
"It really impacts a lot on my sleep habits," she told Sam Murphy on the Pop Pod, external, saying the pain had got "progressively worse over the past couple of years".
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Yet fossils from the extinction interval became progressively darker, eventually reaching an extremely dark brown.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
Excitement for the global soccer spectacle has progressively waned as countries with large diasporas in the city -- like Mexico and Egypt -- have been ejected.
From Barron's ● Jul. 19, 2026
With the passage of time we may expect progressively more serious outbreaks of insects, both disease-carrying and crop-destroying species, in excess of anything we have ever known.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
