more and more

English

Adverb

more and more

(degree) Progressively more.
The road gets more and more steep.
Oil is getting more and more expensive.
He started calling more and more frequently.
- 1923, Leo Tolstoy, Louise and Aylmer Maude (translators), War and Peace,
  What was expressed by the whole of the count's plump figure, in Marya Dmitrievna found expression only in her more and more beaming face and quivering nose.
- 1959 February, G. Freeman Allen, “Southampton—Gateway to the Ocean”, in Trains Illustrated, page 91:
  The Southern acquired them because the little Class "B4" 0-4-0 tanks were finding heavy modern rolling stock more and more of a handful, and at war's end the railway had nothing of suitable power but short wheelbase on its books to take their place on the more tortuous of the dock lines.
(manner) In a manner that progressively increases.
The wound hurt more and more as we walked on.
- 1782, Robert Burns, John Barleycorn,
  His colour sicken'd more and more,
  He faded into age;
  And then his enemies began
  To show their deadly rage.
(modal) Indicates that the statement is becoming progressively more true.
More and more, children are among the first to take up new technologies.
- 1864 September, The Cadmean Madness in The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14,
  More and more it is not the soul and Nature, but the eye and print, whose resultant is thought.

Usage notes

The degree adverb sense is often an ellipsis of an instance of the more general phenomenon of reduplication of the comparative form of adjectives or adverbs (eg, "hotter and hotter").

Coordinate terms

less and less
further and further
farther and farther

Translations

progressively more

Catalan: cada vegada més, cada cop més, més i més
Chinese:
Mandarin: 越來越／越来越 (zh) (yuèláiyuè)
Dutch: meer en meer
Finnish: yhä enemmän
French: de plus en plus (fr)
German: immer (de) (+ comparative)
Hungarian: egyre ... -bb/-abb/-ebb/-obb
Interlingua: cata vice plus, de plus in plus, plus e plus
Italian: viepiù, sempre più
Japanese: ますます (ja) (masumasu), 更に (ja) (さらに, sara ni)
Latin: magis magisque
Macedonian: повеќе и повеќе (poveḱe i poveḱe), сѐ повеќе (sè poveḱe), сѐ повеќе и повеќе (sè poveḱe i poveḱe)
Polish: coraz więcej, coraz (pl)
Portuguese: cada vez mais
Romanian: din ce în ce mai, tot mai
Russian: бо́льше и бо́льше (bólʹše i bólʹše), всё бо́льше (vsjó bólʹše)
Spanish: cada vez más
Swedish: allt (sv) (+ comparative), mer och mer
Volapük: ai plu

in a manner that progressively increases

Chinese:
Mandarin: 越來越／越来越 (zh) (yuèláiyuè)
Finnish: yhä enemmän
German: immer mehr
Hungarian: egyre jobban
Italian: viepiù
Polish: coraz bardziej, coraz (pl) (+the comparitive)
Portuguese: cada vez mais

indicates that the statement is becoming progressively more true

Chinese:
Mandarin: 越來越多地／越来越多地 (yuèláiyuè duō de)
Finnish: yhä enemmän, yhä useammin
German: mehr und mehr, im zunehmenden Maße
Hungarian: egyre inkább
Polish: coraz więcej
Portuguese: cada vez mais

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: ^{(please verify)} de plus en plus (fr)

Determiner

more and more

Increasingly more; a growing number of; a growing quantity of.
There are more and more people who keep pets these days.
- 2023 January 11, Philip Haigh, “Comment: The worst chaos for 40 years”, in RAIL, number 974, page 4:
  It's unarguable that ticket offices are less relevant than they once were. More and more passengers buy tickets online.

Coordinate terms

fewer and fewer

Translations

increasingly more

Chinese:
Mandarin: 越來越多地／越来越多地, 越来越多地 (yuèláiyuè duō de)
Finnish: yhä enemmän, yhä useampi
German: immer mehr, zunehmend mehr
Polish: coraz więcej

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: ^{(please verify)} de plus en plus de