piecewiseadv.
/ˈpiːswʌɪz/, U.S. /ˈpisˌwaɪz/ rare before late 19th cent.
1. By or in pieces; by degrees, piecemeal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [adverb] > in separated pieces > by pieces or piecemeal
limb-mealc1050
morsel-mealc1300
piecemealc1325
gobbetmealc1384
parcelmeala1387
plotmeala1450
gobbetly1552
threadmeal1565
piecemealwise1589
parcelwise1647
piecewise1674
1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 107 Whether wholewise or piecewise?
1882 J. T. Clarke tr. F. von Reber Hist. Anc. Art 309 These figures..instead of being carved from the blocks of the frieze itself, were formed piecewise [Ger. stückweise] of Pentilic marble.
1917 L. Quessel in E. & C. Paul Population & Birth-Control 151 The member of the non-possessing classes sells his life piecewise, by the week or month.
1939 Mind 48 366 They have to proceed piece-wise, measuring every little line and bend.
1979 Nature 12 Apr. 623/1 Their major effect is to re-order, piecewise, the fibre map of the eye circumference laid out across the t axis of the ribbon.
2. Mathematics. Throughout each of a finite number of separate parts or regions but not necessarily throughout the whole.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematics > [adverb] > only in certain parts
piecewise1924
1924 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 26 386 We consider also the non-homogenous equation Lu = ϕ(x) where ϕ(x) is piece-wise continuous in (a, b).
1933 H. B. Phillips Vector Anal. v. 101 Vectors which are only piecewise differentiable.
1962 C. L. Alley & K. W. Atwood Electronic Engin. 16 546 This method is known as the piecewise-linear method, since the tube or transistor is assumed to be linear over certain regions of operation.
1991 Antiquity 65 810/1 These ‘curves’ are not in fact smooth curves but are composed of a series of points joined, for convenience, by straight lines; they are ‘piece-wise linear’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1674