step

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The act of moving the foot to walk or move somewhere.

   The toddler walked with unsteady steps.

2. 2
   noun

   A flat surface for the foot when going up or down stairs.

   I paused on the bottom step.

3. 3
   noun

   One action in a series of actions to do something.

   The first step is to open an account.

4. 4
   noun

   The distance you move when you take one step.

   The shop is only a few steps from my house.

5. 5
   verb

   To move by lifting your foot and putting it down somewhere.

   She stepped over the puddle carefully.

Common collocations

• first step Adjective + noun
• small step Adjective + noun
• miss a step Verb + noun
• take a step Verb + noun
• positive step Adjective + noun
• skip a step Verb + noun
• bold step Adjective + noun

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,…

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