step by step
phrase
by small degrees, increments, or stages; gradually.
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step by step
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step-by-step
step-by-stepadjectivegiving or involving one task or action at a time toward a goal.
step by step
1 Americanphrase
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by small degrees, increments, or stages; gradually.
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by completing one task or action at a time toward the accomplishment of a goal.
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by taking one step after another with the feet, or at a slow, deliberate walking pace.
step-by-step
2
American
adjective
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giving or involving one task or action at a time toward a goal.
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happening or done by small degrees, increments, or stages; gradual.
step by step
Idioms
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.
See Examples For:
Sit down with him and outline, step by step, how you work and what changes you’ve had to make to his work.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
OpenAI published its findings along with the 165-page proof and a formalization that verifies the argument step by step.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
"We have to go step by step again, but we can't wait until we're physically top to start getting results," the Belgian said.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
To resolve the uncertainty, the Northwestern team relied on total synthesis, a process in which researchers build a natural molecule step by step in the laboratory.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 6, 2026
She began to walk up it, step by step, climbing ever higher, as though there were invisible stairs cut into the grey sky.
From "Mary Poppins" by P. L. Travers
Market Hulbert provided a step-by-step guide to setting up a retirement income stream for 30 years with a guaranteed inflation-adjusted withdrawal rate of 5%.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
It launched a series of so-called reasoning models in the fall of 2024 that were able to work through problems step-by-step before answering, a capability that turned out to be well-suited for writing code.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
AI agents -- systems that act autonomously to complete tasks rather than just responding to step-by-step prompts in a chatbot -- are hailed across the industry as the next chapter in AI.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
I like to enjoy my noods in soup form, but you can also follow this step-by-step process for stir-fried noodles.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
Needless to say, artistic creation is too subtle and intimate an experience to permit an exact step-by-step description.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
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.
