increment

/ˈɪŋkɹɪmn̩t/

increment noun: the action of increasing or becoming greater.

Noun

increment (plural increments)

The action of increasing or becoming greater.
- the seminary that furnisheth matter for the formation and increment of animal and vegetable bodies1695, John Woodward, “(please specify the page)”, in An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth: And Terrestrial Bodies, Especially Minerals: […], London: […] Ric[hard] Wilkin […], →OCLC
- A nation, to be great, ought to be compressed in its increment by nations more civilized than itself—as Greece by Persia; and Rome by Etruria, the Italian states, and Carthage.1832 June 9, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Sympathy of Old Greek and Latin with English—Roman Mind—War”, in H[enry] N[elson] C[oleridge], editor, Specimens of the Table Talk of the Late Samuel Taylor...
Synonyms:

enlargement
The amount of increase.
- In the third place, the superelevation and alignment of the track, theoretically calculated for speeds of 70 to 75 m.p.h., was adequate for the 80 to 85 m.p.h. or so normally attained as maxima over the G.N. main line; but nothing whatever had been done to prepare it for the enormous increment over...1941 June, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 263
- The others will return at night, [...] pushing their experiments and nudging their projects toward completion in small, painful increments.2020, Brandon Taylor, Real Life, Daunt Books Originals, page 90
Synonyms:

addition
(rhetoric) An amplification without strict climax, as in the following passage: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, […] think on these things."
The amount of time added to a player's clock after each move.
A syllable in excess of the number of the nominative singular or the second-person singular present indicative.

Verb

increment (third-person singular simple present increments, present participle incrementing, simple past and past participle incremented)

(intransitive, transitive) To increase by steps or by a step, especially by one.
- ... any given value just before observing, the actual pressures must as frequently be incremented as decremented, both in the "on" and the "off" series.1890, H. E. J. G. Du Bois, “On Magnetic Circuits”, in Philosophical magazine, page 346
- public sector professional services recruitment, has seen a strong seasonal upturn which has incremented year on year since 2002 by an average of 12%.2007 January 23, “Busiest two weeks for recruiters”, in Recruiter Magazine

increment meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

increment in Tamil

உயர்த்தம், ஆண்டுயர்த்தம், ஊதிய உயர்வு, சம்பள உயர்வு, உயாவு, உயாமானம்

increment in Urdu

افزائش, اضافہ, زیادتی

increment in Bengali

বৃদ্ধি, বৃদ্ধিপ্রাপ্ত অংশ, বেতন বৃদ্ধি

increment in Telugu

increment: ఇంక్రిమెంటు iṅkrimeṇṭu

More languagesFewer languages

increment in Malayalam: വർധന vaṟdhana
increment in Kannada: ಏರಿಕೆ, ಬಡತಿ, ಹೆಚ್ಚಳ, ಹೆಚ್ಚಿಸಿದ ಮೊತ್ತ
increment in Sanskrit: वर्धन várdhana
increment in Tagalog: dugang
increment in Indonesian: menaikkan

Examples of increment in a sentence

The thread increments the semaphore to prevent other threads from entering the critical section at the same time.
The fragments shrank by increments of about three kilodaltons (a measure of molecular weight).
A variable regarded as taking on equal increments is an equicrescent variable.

All 20 example sentences with increment

Synonyms of increment

Antonyms

decrement

Forms of increment

Noun
plural	increments
Verb
third-person singular present	increments
present participle	incrementing
past participle	incremented
past	incremented

Plural of increment: increments

Origin of increment

From Middle English encrement, increment, from Latin incrēmentum, from incrēscō (whence increase), from in- + crēscō (“grow”). Equivalent to increase + -ment.

Words formed from increment

Phrases with increment

increment borers

Questions about increment

What does increment mean?: Increment means the action of increasing or becoming greater.
What is increment in Tamil?: Increment in Tamil is உயர்த்தம், ஆண்டுயர்த்தம், ஊதிய உயர்வு. See Increment meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is increment?: Increment can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce increment?: Increment is pronounced /ˈɪŋkɹɪmn̩t/.
What is the plural of increment?: The plural of increment is increments.

Words near increment in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: increment (page history and authors); increment (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); increment (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Increment (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ఇంక్రిమెంటు (Telugu) (page history and authors); increment (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); वर्धन (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-increment.wav.

Cite this entry: “increment.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/increment. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.