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step

/stɛp/

noun

Meaning

  • An advance or movement made from one foot to the other; a pace.

  • 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.

  • A distinct part of a process; stage; phase.

    "He improved step by step, or by steps."

  • 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."

  • 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."

  • A small space or distance.

    "It is but a step."

  • A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.

  • A gait; manner of walking.

    "The approach of a man is often known by his step."

  • Proceeding; measure; action; act.

  • (plural) A walk; passage.

  • (plural) A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position.

  • 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.

  • (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.

  • (machines) A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves.

  • The interval between two contiguous degrees of the scale.

  • (kinematics) A change of position effected by a motion of translation.

  • 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."

  • A stepsibling.

Synonyms

stride

verb

Meaning

  • 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.

  • To walk; to go on foot; especially, to walk a little distance.

    "to step to one of the neighbors"

  • To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely.

  • To move mentally; to go in imagination.

  • To set, as the foot.

  • To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect.