one by one

idiom

: separately in a series : one at a time : first one and then another one, etc.

I solved the problems one by one.

The performers took the stage one by one.

Examples of one by one in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Officers took demonstrators one by one to police vans, video from NBC Los Angeles at the scene showed. —

Patrick Smith, NBC News, 26 Apr. 2024 Naomi Campbell came by and caught me learning to climb the steps, one by one. —

Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 25 Apr. 2024 When one by one, people in this community started vanishing. —

Jasmine Garsd, NPR, 24 Apr. 2024 In Minneapolis, Ashley Cytron, 85, was overcome with emotion during the Seder at his son’s house, where two dozen guests went around the table reading the names of the Israeli hostages, one by one. —

Andrew Keh, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2024 Keeping his return a secret, McCoy surprised them one by one upon his arrival back home. —

Ronnie Li, USA TODAY, 22 Apr. 2024 The late singer’s longtime touring band The Coral Reefer Band also played at the event and were introduced to the stage one by one by McCartney after his own performance. —

Kirsty Hatcher, Peoplemag, 12 Apr. 2024 Yet, one by one, Superstar seduced them with this radical idea: that the DEA might bring about the largest narcotics eradication in history without firing a single bullet. —

Patrick Winn, Rolling Stone, 13 Apr. 2024 Everyone agreed the ad hoc dispensaries were openly breaking the law, but one by one, agencies looked at the crimes and either shrugged off responsibility or conceded they were simply not equipped to help. —

Nicholas Fandos, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'one by one.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.