However, such restrictions were gradually loosened over the past century.

Nor did he try to argue that promoting economic ties with Vietnam would gradually loosen the party's grip.

During a tennis match, the movements of the foot can gradually loosen laces.

As the piece continues, the playwright gradually loosened his hold on earnest sobriety.

Zafirah felt something gradually loosening, something deep within her soul.

After several bouts of jealousy, he gradually loosens his ties with Sylvia.

His grip gradually loosened and his head fell back.

Beginning in the late 1960s, these controls were gradually loosened, and the process of deregulation accelerated and continued throughout the 1980s.

Their relationship with their manager Donahue gradually loosened because "he was pretty heavy into the drug scene and not taking care of business.

But as time went along, and the various ethnic groups began to blend in the melting pot, street gangs gradually loosened their membership requirements.