Footstep
noun ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 The mark or impression left by a foot; a track.
"The child watched as his footsteps in the sand were washed away by the waves."
- 2 the act of taking a step in walking wordnet
- 3 The indications or waypoints of a course or direction taken. broadly, figuratively, sometimes
"To walk the footsteps of greatness requires that you start at the bottom of a long stair."
- 4 the sound of a step of someone walking wordnet
- 5 The sound made by walking, running etc.
"The footsteps of the students echoed in the empty hall."
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 the distance covered by a step wordnet
- 7 A step, as in a stair.
"The garden path had a small footstep down to the main walkway."
- 8 The distance between one foot and the next when walking; a pace.
"Mere footsteps away from the victim lay the murder weapon."
- 9 The act of taking a step.
"Take one more footstep towards me, and I'll make you sorry!"
- 10 An inclined plane under a hand printing press. obsolete
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Anne Lisbeth was a beautiful young woman, with a red and white complexion, glittering white teeth, and clear soft eyes; and her footstep was light in the dance, but her mind was lighter still."
Etymology
From Middle English fotstep, fotstappe, from Old English *fōtstepe, *fōtstæpe (attested only in derivative fōtstappel (“footstep”)), equivalent to foot + step. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Foutstappe (“footstep”), West Frisian fuotstap (“footstep”), Dutch voetstap (“footstep”).
Related phrases
More for "footstep"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.