ますます details
more and more + rise
masumasu agaru
more and more; increasingly — a trend already under way is pushed further
meaning: rise more and more
円安が続けば、輸入の負担はますます増える。
en'yasu ga tsuzukeba, yunyuu no futan wa masumasu fueru.
If the weak yen keeps up, the burden of imports increases more and more. neutral
夜になって、風がますます強くなってきた。
yoru ni natte, kaze ga masumasu tsuyoku natte kita.
As night fell, the wind grew stronger and stronger. neutral
- dictionary form
- i-adjective stem
- na-adjective
- alternant
Examples
more and more — an existing trend is reported as intensifying
円安が続けば、輸入の負担はますます増える。
en'yasu ga tsuzukeba, yunyuu no futan wa masumasufueru.
If the weak yen keeps up, the burden of imports increases more and more. neutral
夜になって、風がますます強くなってきた。
yoru ni natte, kaze ga masumasu tsuyoku natte kita.
As night fell, the wind grew stronger and stronger. neutral
話を聞けば聞くほど、ますます分からなくなる。
hanashi o kikeba kiku hodo, masumasu wakaranaku naru.
The more I hear about it, the less sense it makes. neutral
手続きが増えて、現場はますます複雑になっております。
tetsuzuki ga fuete, genba wa masumasu fukuzatsu ni natte orimasu.
With more procedures added, the situation on the ground has grown steadily more complicated. formal
Formation
ますます{V}attaches to dictionary formますます{I-stem}くなるattaches to i-adjective stemますます{NA-stem}になるattaches to na-adjective
Variant notes
- 益々 — the kanji spelling, kept up in formal letters and older prose; kana is the ordinary choice everywhere else.
Related patterns
Similar
次第に describes a change unfolding in steps and says nothing about where it started; ますます asserts the trend was already running and has stepped up, so it needs a prior state the listener already knows about.
ますます needs a trend the listener already knows is running and pushes it further; だんだん needs no prior state, so a change noticed for the first time takes だんだん and refuses ますます.
Lookalikes
Both boost a degree, and only ずっと reaches a bare adjective — ずっと暑い is ordinary, ×ますます暑い is not, because ますます needs a change verb to ride and ずっと needs none.
Combines with
An adjective offers ますます no verb to modify, so the intensifier reaches it through くなる — ますます寒くなる, where a bare ×ますます寒い stands as no ordinary assertion.