Word Study
item-by-item
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Adjective item-by-item has 1 sense
- item-by-item(s = adj.all) case-by-case, individual - separate and distinct from others of the same kind; "mark the individual pages"; "on a case-by-case basis"
CIDE DICTIONARY
item-by-item, adj.
considered one item at a time; -- contrasted with using general rules for groups of items considered by their class. [WordNet 1.5]
For further exploring for "item-by-item" in Webster Dictionary Online