What does "step" mean?
An advance or movement made from one foot to the other; a pace.
Step
/stɛp/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An advance or movement made from one foot to the other; a pace.
- Grammar: step is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: footprint, stair, stride, abdicate.
- Useful contrasts: abrupt, conclusion, decrease.
- Usage evidence: I cannot dance one single step of Salsa.
How to use "step"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "step" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "step" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "step" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "step" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "step" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "footprint" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "step", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An advance or movement made from one foot to the other; a pace.
"Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear."
- 2 A stepchild. colloquial
"[Krazy Kat, after complimenting a woman on her nice polite little child:] Boy or girl? [Woman:] Step – but well brung up."
- 3 any maneuver made as part of progress toward a goal wordnet
- 4 A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a rung of a ladder.
"The breadth of every single step or stair should be never less than one foot."
- 5 A stepsibling. colloquial
"So for Richard and Barbara, Jeff and Kari, the impossibly varied collection of steps and halves that is another legacy of my father."
Show 29 more definitions
- 6 the act of changing location by raising the foot and setting it down wordnet
- 7 The part of a spade, digging stick or similar tool that a digger's foot rests against and presses on when digging; an ear, a foot-rest.
- 8 a sequence of foot movements that make up a particular dance wordnet
- 9 The button joining a glass's stem to its foot.
- 10 support consisting of a place to rest the foot while ascending or descending a stairway wordnet
- 11 A distinct part of a process; stage; phase.
"He improved step by step, or by steps."
- 12 a solid block joined to the beams in which the heel of a ship's mast or capstan is fixed wordnet
- 13 A running board where passengers step to get on and off the bus.
"The driver must have a clear view of the step in order to prevent accidents."
- 14 a mark of a foot or shoe on a surface wordnet
- 15 The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running.
"One step is generally about three feet, but may be more or less."
- 16 a musical interval of two semitones wordnet
- 17 A small space or distance.
"It is but a step."
- 18 the sound of a step of someone walking wordnet
- 19 A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.
- 20 the distance covered by a step wordnet
- 21 A gait; manner of walking.
"The approach of a man is often known by his step."
- 22 a short distance wordnet
- 23 Proceeding; measure; action; act.
"The reputation of a man depends on the first steps he makes in the world."
- 24 relative position in a graded series wordnet
- 25 A walk; passage. in-plural
"Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree."
- 26 A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position. in-plural
- 27 A framing in wood or iron which is intended to receive an upright shaft; specifically, a block of wood, or a solid platform upon the keelson, supporting the heel of the mast.
- 28 One of a series of offsets, or parts, resembling the steps of stairs, as one of the series of parts of a cone pulley on which the belt runs.
- 29 A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves.
- 30 The interval between two contiguous degrees of the scale.
"Usage note: The word tone is often used as the name of this interval; but there is evident incongruity in using tone for indicating the interval between tones. As the word scale is derived from the Italian scala, a ladder, the intervals may well be called steps."
- 31 A change of position effected by a motion of translation.
"A change of position effected by a motion of translation will be called a step."
- 32 A constant difference between consecutive values in a series.
"Printing from 0 to 9 with a step of 3 will display 0, 3, 6 and 9."
- 33 Kick scooter. Netherlands, slang
- 34 Stepping (style of dance)
Verb
- 1 To move the foot in walking; to advance or recede by raising and moving one of the feet to another resting place, or by moving both feet in succession. intransitive
"A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays."
- 2 move or proceed as if by steps into a new situation wordnet
- 3 To walk; to go on foot; especially, to walk a little distance. intransitive
"Come one, come all. Step right up!"
- 4 measure (distances) by pacing wordnet
- 5 To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely. intransitive
"Home from his Morning-Task , the Swain retreats, His flock before him stepping to the fold."
Show 15 more definitions
- 6 place (a ship's mast) in its step wordnet
- 7 To dance.
"At arms length with left hands clasped they moved back where facing each other they stepped in time to their dance embrace."
- 8 shift or move by taking a step wordnet
- 9 To move mentally; to go in imagination. figuratively, intransitive
"They are stepping almost three thousand years back into the remotest antiquity."
- 10 put down or press the foot, place the foot wordnet
- 11 To set, as the foot. transitive
"One of the women, Elsie, stepped her foot inside to help the woman."
- 12 walk a short distance to a specified place or in a specified manner wordnet
- 13 To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect. transitive
"We put everything straight, stepped the long-boat's mast for our skipper, who was in charge of her, and I was not sorry to sit down for a moment."
- 14 move with one's feet in a specific manner wordnet
- 15 To advance a process gradually, one step at a time. transitive
- 16 furnish with steps wordnet
- 17 To depart. intransitive, slang
"You best step, cuz things are about to jump off."
- 18 treat badly wordnet
- 19 To be confrontational. intransitive, slang
"You tryna be steppin right now? You better bring it if so."
- 20 cause (a computer) to execute a single command wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 Initialism of Smart Traveler Enrollment Program. US, abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
- 2 Acronym of Sixth Term Examination Paper. UK, abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
Antonyms
Example
"I cannot dance one single step of Salsa."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "step"?
Common synonyms include: footprint, stair, stride, abdicate, abuse, accelerate.
How do you use "step" in a sentence?
I cannot dance one single step of Salsa.
How do you pronounce "step"?
Pronounced /stɛp/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English steppen, from Old English steppan (“to step, go, proceed, advance”), stepe (“step”), from Proto-West Germanic *stappjan, from Proto-Germanic *stapjaną (“to step”), *stapiz (“step”), from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ- (“to support, stomp, curse, be amazed”). Cognate with West Frisian stappe (“to step”), North Frisian stape (“to walk, trudge”), Dutch stappen (“to step, walk”), Walloon steper (“to walk away, leave”), German stapfen (“to trudge, stomp, plod”) and further to Slavic Polish stąpać (“to stomp, stamp, step, tread”), Russian ступать (stupatʹ) and Polish stopień (“step, stair, rung, degree”), Russian степень (stepenʹ). Related to stamp, stomp.
Etymology 2
Clipping of stepchild and stepsibling.