Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Keep "steppingstones" when the sentence already sounds natural, when a synonym would add unintended emphasis, or when readers need the most familiar wording. A synonym should clarify or sharpen the message, not simply make the sentence look more varied.
If two options seem close, choose the one that best matches the audience and purpose of the sentence.
Choose a synonym only if it keeps the core idea of "steppingstones" intact in the sentence you are editing.
Check whether the replacement sounds more formal, casual, emotional, technical, or forceful than the original word.
Read the full sentence after the swap. Keep the synonym only when the sentence becomes clearer or more precise.
Review note: Synonym lists are ranked with lexical data and reviewed for practical writing value. Use the comparison notes, sentence evidence, and source labels together; a high-ranking synonym can still be wrong when the audience, register, or grammar changes.
After choosing a replacement for "steppingstones", read the sentence once for meaning and once for rhythm. The best synonym should feel natural in the full sentence, not only accurate in a word list.
If the synonym makes the sentence slower, vaguer, or more dramatic than intended, keep "steppingstones" or choose a simpler alternative from the closest-match group.
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
2 total sentences available.
In the Philippines, I attended the elementary school in La Salle Green Hills, which had a big private campus. I often liked lunchtime by myself. After eating my packed lunch, I would play in the playground by myself. I would imagine that the ground was molten lava, and I would avoid it with the steppingstones and playground apparatus.
Source: tatoeba (10589742)
Extended-duration missions on the International Space Station are steppingstones to future missions to the Moon and Mars.
Source: tatoeba (12009480)
Closest matches include garden stones, intermediate steps, milestones, path stones, preliminaries.
Compare the replacement against real sentence context. This entry includes sample sentences so you can check tone, grammar, and meaning before swapping words.
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