step

step

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of step in English

English Online Dictionary. What means step‎? What does step mean?

English

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /stɛp/
  • Homophone: steppe
  • Rhymes: -ɛp

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.

Noun

step (plural steps)

  1. An advance or movement made from one foot to the other; a pace.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:step.
  3. 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.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:step.
  4. 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.
  5. (glassblowing) The button joining a glass's stem to its foot.
  6. A distinct part of a process; stage; phase.
  7. A running board where passengers step to get on and off the bus.
  8. The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running.
  9. A small space or distance.
  10. A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.
  11. A gait; manner of walking.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:step.
  12. Proceeding; measure; action; act.
    • 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)
      Moon has also requested that government officials take additional steps to help fight pollution, his spokesman said.
  13. (in the plural) A walk; passage.
  14. (in the plural) A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position.
  15. (nautical) 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.
  16. (machines) 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.
  17. (machines) A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves.
  19. (music) 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.
  20. (kinematics) A change of position effected by a motion of translation.
  21. (programming) A constant difference between consecutive values in a series.
  22. (slang, primarily Netherlands) Kick scooter.
  23. Stepping (style of dance)
Synonyms
  • (pace): stride
Hyponyms
  • back step, half step, etc. see under back, half, etc.
  • cyclic step
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

step (third-person singular simple present steps, present participle stepping, simple past stepped or (dated) stept or (obsolete) stope, past participle stepped or (dated) stept)

  1. (intransitive) 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.
  2. (intransitive) To walk; to go on foot; especially, to walk a little distance.
  3. (intransitive) To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely.
  4. To dance.
  5. (intransitive, figuratively) To move mentally; to go in imagination.
  6. (transitive) To set, as the foot.
  7. (transitive, nautical) To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect.
  8. (transitive) To advance a process gradually, one step at a time.
  9. (intransitive, slang, African-American Vernacular) To depart.
  10. (intransitive, slang) To be confrontational.
    Antonym: step off
    Coordinate term: step up
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Clipping of stepchild and stepsibling.

Noun

step (plural steps)

  1. (colloquial) A stepchild.
  2. (colloquial) A stepsibling.

See also

  • step-

Further reading

  • William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “step”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
  • “step”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

  • EPTs, ESTP, PETs, Pest, Sept, Sept., TPEs, Teps, pest, pets, sept, sept-, spet

Czech

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈstɛp]
  • Rhymes: -ɛp

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Ukrainian степ (step). First attested in the 18th century.

Noun

step f

  1. steppe
Declension

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English step.

Noun

step m inan

  1. tap dance
Declension

References

Further reading

  • “step”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
  • “step”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
  • “step”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English step (“footrest on a bicycle”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /stɛp/
  • Hyphenation: step
  • Rhymes: -ɛp

Noun

step f (plural steps, diminutive stepje n)

  1. kick scooter
    Synonyms: autoped, trottinette
  2. (dated) a mounting bracket on a bicycle

Derived terms

  • steppen

Descendants

  • → Papiamentu: stèp

Indonesian

Pronunciation

  • (Standard Indonesian) IPA(key): /ˈstɛp/ [ˈst̪ɛp̚]
  • Rhymes: -ɛp
  • Syllabification: step

Etymology 1

From English step.

Noun

stèp (plural step-step)

  1. (especially sports) step; pace, gait
    Synonym: langkah

Etymology 2

From Dutch stuip.

Alternative forms

  • setip

Noun

stèp (plural step-step)

  1. (colloquial, medicine) convulsion
    Synonyms: kejang, konvulsi, sawan

Further reading

  • “step” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Khasi

Noun

step f

  1. morning

Derived terms

References

  • Singh, U Nissor (1906) Khasi-English dictionary‎[1], Shillong: Eastern Bengal and Assam Secretariat Press, page 211. Searchable online at SEAlang.net.

Middle English

Noun

step

  1. Alternative form of steppe

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Ukrainian степ (step).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈstɛp/
  • Rhymes: -ɛp
  • Syllabification: step

Noun

step m inan

  1. (often in the plural) steppe

Declension

Further reading

  • step in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • step in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English step.

Noun

step n (uncountable)

  1. (dance) tap dance

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English step.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈstep/ [ˈst̪ep], /esˈtep/ [esˈt̪ep]
  • Rhymes: -ep
  • Syllabification: step

Noun

step m (uncountable)

  1. step training

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Turkish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /step/

Etymology 1

Through English steppe or borrowed directly from French steppe, from Russian степь (stepʹ).

Noun

step (definite accusative stepi, plural stepler)

  1. steppe (the grasslands of Eastern Europe and Asia)
    Synonym: bozkır
Declension
Derived terms
  • step iklimi

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English step.

Noun

step (definite accusative stepi, plural stepler)

  1. (basketball) traveling (basketball rule violation)
    Synonym: hatalı yürüme
  2. (dance) This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {}.
Declension
Derived terms
  • stepçi

Further reading

  • “step”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
  • Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “step1”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
  • Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “step2”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
  • Ayverdi, İlhan (2010) “step”, in Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük, a reviewed and expanded single-volume edition, Istanbul: Kubbealtı Neşriyatı
  • Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “step”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 4, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 4251

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.