step Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun any maneuver made as part of progress toward a goal
    measure.
    • the situation called for strong measures
    • the police took steps to reduce crime
  2. noun the distance covered by a step
    pace; footstep; stride.
    • he stepped off ten paces from the old tree and began to dig
  3. noun the act of changing location by raising the foot and setting it down
    • he walked with unsteady steps
  4. noun support consisting of a place to rest the foot while ascending or descending a stairway
    stair.
    • he paused on the bottom step
  5. noun relative position in a graded series
    gradation.
    • always a step behind
    • subtle gradations in color
    • keep in step with the fashions
  6. noun a short distance
    stone's throw.
    • it's only a step to the drugstore
  7. noun the sound of a step of someone walking
    footstep; footfall.
    • he heard footsteps on the porch
  8. noun a musical interval of two semitones
    whole step; tone; whole tone.
  9. noun a mark of a foot or shoe on a surface
    footprint; footmark.
    • the police made casts of the footprints in the soft earth outside the window
  10. noun a solid block joined to the beams in which the heel of a ship's mast or capstan is fixed
  11. noun a sequence of foot movements that make up a particular dance
    dance step.
    • he taught them the waltz step
  12. verb shift or move by taking a step
    • step back
  13. verb put down or press the foot, place the foot
    tread.
    • For fools rush in where angels fear to tread
    • step on the brake
  14. verb cause (a computer) to execute a single command
  15. verb treat badly
    ill-use; ill-treat; maltreat; abuse; mistreat.
    • This boss abuses his workers
    • She is always stepping on others to get ahead
  16. verb furnish with steps
    • The architect wants to step the terrace
  17. verb move with one's feet in a specific manner
    • step lively
  18. verb walk a short distance to a specified place or in a specified manner
    • step over to the blackboard
  19. verb place (a ship's mast) in its step
  20. verb measure (distances) by pacing
    pace.
    • step off ten yards
  21. verb move or proceed as if by steps into a new situation
    • She stepped into a life of luxury
    • he won't step into his father's footsteps

WordNet

Step intransitive verb
Etymology
AS. stæppan; akin to OFries. steppa, D. stappen to step, stap a step, OHG. stepfen to step, G. stapfe a footstep, OHG. stapfo, G. stufe a step to step on; cf. Gr. to shake about, handle roughly, stamp (?). Cf. Stamp, n. & a.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Stepped ; present participle & verbal noun Stepping
Definitions
  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.
  2. To walk; to go on foot; esp., to walk a little distance; as, to step to one of the neighbors.
  3. To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely.
    Home the swain retreats, His flock before him stepping to the fold. Thomson.
  4. Fig.: To move mentally; to go in imagination.
    They are stepping almost three thousand years back into the remotest antiquity. Pope.
Step transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To set, as the foot.
  2. (Naut.) To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect.
Step noun
Etymology
AS. stæpe. See Step, v. i.
Definitions
  1. An advance or movement made by one removal of the foot; a pace.
  2. A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a round of a ladder.
    The breadth of every single step or stair should be never less than one foot. Sir H. Wotton.
  3. The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running; as, one step is generally about three feet, but may be more or less. Used also figuratively of any kind of progress; as, he improved step by step, or by steps.
    To derive two or three general principles of motion from phenomena, and afterwards to tell us how the properties and actions of all corporeal things follow from those manifest principles, would be a very great step in philosophy. Sir I. Newton.
  4. A small space or distance; as, it is but a step.
  5. A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.
  6. Gait; manner of walking; as, the approach of a man is often known by his step.
  7. Proceeding; measure; action; an act.
    The reputation of a man depends on the first steps he makes in the world. Pope.
    Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day, Live till to-morrow, will have passed away. Cowper.
    I have lately taken steps . . . to relieve the old gentleman's distresses. G. W. Cable.
  8. pl. Walk; passage.
    Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree. Dryden.
  9. pl. A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position.
  10. (Naut.) In general, a framing in wood or iron which is intended to receive an upright shaft; specif., a block of wood, or a solid platform upon the keelson, supporting the heel of the mast.
  11. (Mach.) (a) 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. (b) A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves.
  12. (Mus.) The intervak between two contiguous degrees of the csale. ✍ 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.
  13. (Kinematics) A change of position effected by a motion of translation. W. K. Clifford.

Webster 1913