Two-step

adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A ballroom dance in duple time, having long, sliding steps.

    "The dancing shadows on the wall / (The two-step in the hall)"

  2. 2
    a ballroom dance in duple meter; marked by sliding steps wordnet
  3. 3
    A dance move consisting of two steps in approximately the same direction onto the same foot, separated by a joining or uniting step with the other foot.
  4. 4
    A piece of music for this dance.
Verb
  1. 1
    To dance the two-step. intransitive
  2. 2
    dance the two-step wordnet
  3. 3
    To move around as if dancing a two-step. figuratively

    "2024, Paul Salopek, New Map: Ancient Roads of China, National Geographichttps://outofedenwalk.nationalgeographic.org/articles/2024-07-new-map-ancient-roads-china Pacing off on average 25 kilometers a day, month after month, we two-stepped around roaring superhighways, under bullet-train bridges, through megacities of 22 million that took a week to traverse, as well as past dams, mines, airports, and industrial parks—a buzzing tableau you’d expect from China’s reputation as the “factory of the world.”"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see two, step. not-comparable

    "Films corrupted by blotches are often restored in a two-step approach."

Example

More examples

"Verification of the data is a two-step process."

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.