WordNet
by small degrees
adv. by a short distance; "they moved it by inches" [syn: by inches, little by little]
Usage examples of "by small degrees".
He would, Khadaji knew, grow better still, but only by small degrees, measured in bits perhaps discernable only in theoretical, rather than practical terms.
But even the College of Cardinals can be led to cannibalism, provided only that one proceeds patiently and by small degrees.
When you look at it like that, it becomes easy to believe that an eye could have evolved from no eye by small degrees.