word by word

word by word

1. One word at a time. I know this text is difficult to understand, so let's just go through it word by word. We'll need to go through the final draft word by word to ensure no errors made it through.
2. In or with the same exact words; verbatim. Hyphenated if used as an adjective before a noun. After seeing the play only once, he was able to repeat the monologue word by word. It was amazing. I don't need a word-by-word transcript of his testimony. You can just paraphrase it for me.
See also: by, word
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

word by word

one word at a time. We examined the contract word by word to make sure everything was the way we wanted. We compared the stories word by word to see what made them different.
See also: by, word
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • from the word go
  • one final word
  • have word (from someone or something)
  • false friend
  • get word (from someone or something)
  • receive word
  • receive word (from someone or something)
  • word for word
  • in a word
  • calaboose
References in classic literature
Teaching her exactly as I should have taught a child, I slowly fastened the message, word by word, on her mind.
Pinocchio, standing before him, told his pitiful tale, word by word. He gave the names and the descriptions of the robbers and begged for justice.
We began to read Heine together when my vocabulary had to be dug almost word by word out of the dictionary, for the bookbinder's English was rather scanty at the best, and was not literary.
Ernestine read the letter slowly, line by line, word by word. To tell the truth it was absorbingly interesting to her.
It happens in real time, the time it takes to read them, as one thing transforms, word by word, into another thing.
He said the government is fully committed to obey court decisions word by word.
Word By Word: A Daily Spiritual Practice selects fifteen specific words plus a dozen more and then ties the word to a week.
Taking issue with numerous demonstrably false writings about Jesus' trial that have been harmful to Christian-Jewish relations and dialogues, Jesus on Trial dissects the gospel account word by word at length, in full context of the social and political realities of the era.
Researched in depth and heavily annotated, Perspectives on the Rule of Saint Benedict is methodical in its dissection of intent word by word as it is passionate about the needs of the spirit.
During the day little thoughts cross my mind So out come pen and paper double spaced lined Word by word, I soon complete a rhyme This is what I am doing all of the time Thoughts come to be like manna from heaven Before I know it I have written line number seven I know now that I must keep writing on As I watch the sun sink below the blue horizon The end of the day has come too soon But now I seek the old silvery moon With my wife we stroll, like lovers do We talk to each other, yes we bill and coo We call in our local, a pint for me, a glass for her Then a stroll home in the warm evening air For the two of us this is the ideal way To be thankful for the end of a perfect day
Coplans was a demanding editor, going over the review word by word. We argued every point from both sides, searching for flaws in the logic, relentlessly forcing every issue to its inevitable conclusion.
Mr Sond said: 'I'm going to sit down with a solicitor and go through the decision word by word before we lodge an appeal.'
Did we need to spell it out word by word, saying 'You can believe in God in any way you choose, or in no god at all.
The film also translates the written Italian words of the already-translated gospel into the spoken Italian words of the movie's actors, in a nearly word by word representation of dialogue from Matthew's story.