keep getting more and more

一方だ attaches to a verb's dictionary form to mean a situation keeps changing in one direction, usually getting worse. It describes a one-way trend with no sign of reversing. The change is continuous and often undesirable.

Examples

• 物価ぶっかは上あがる一方いっぽうだ。

  Bukka wa agaru ippou da.

  Prices just keep rising.

• 彼かれの病気びょうきは悪わるくなる一方いっぽうだった。

  Kare no byouki wa waruku naru ippou datta.

  His illness just kept getting worse.

Vocabulary in these examples

• 上がる to go up, to rise
• 一方 on the other hand
• 彼 he, him
• 病気 illness
• 悪い bad
• なる to become

Related patterns · Aspect and degree

• 〜つつある be in the process of
• 〜きる do completely; finish entirely
• 〜ぬく do all the way through (despite hardship)
• 〜気味 a touch of; -ish; tending toward
• 〜だらけ full of; covered in
• 〜っぽい -ish; tends to; looks like