step
pronunciation
How to pronounce step in British English:
UK [step]
How to pronounce step in American English:
US [step]
-
- Noun:
- any maneuver made as part of progress toward a goal
- the distance covered by a step
- the act of changing location by raising the foot and setting it down
- support consisting of a place to rest the foot while ascending or descending a stairway
- relative position in a graded series
- a short distance
- the sound of a step of someone walking
- a musical interval of two semitones
- a mark of a foot or shoe on a surface
- a solid block joined to the beams in which the heel of a ship's mast or capstan is fixed
- a sequence of foot movements that make up a particular dance
-
- Verb:
- shift or move by taking a step
- put down or press the foot, place the foot
- cause (a computer) to execute a single command
- treat badly
- furnish with steps
- move with one's feet in a specific manner
- walk a short distance to a specified place or in a specified manner
- place (a ship's mast) in its step
- measure (distances) by pacing
- move or proceed as if by steps into a new situation
Word Origin
- step
- step: [OE] Step, together with its relatives German stapfen and Dutch steppen, comes from a prehistoric West Germanic base *stap- ‘tread’ (a nasalized version of which produced English stamp). (Russian step, source of English steppe [17], is not related.) The prefix step- [OE], as in stepdaughter, stepfather, etc, originated in a word meaning ‘orphan’. It is related to Old High German stiufen ‘bereave’.=> stamp
- step (v.)
- Old English steppan (Anglian), stæppan (West Saxon) "take a step," from West Germanic *stap- "tread" (cognates: Old Frisian stapa, Middle Dutch, Dutch stappen, Old High German stapfon, German stapfen "step"), from PIE root *stebh- "post, stem; to support, place firmly on" (see staff (n.); cognates: Old Church Slavonic stopa "step, pace," stepeni "step, degree"). The notion is perhaps "a treading firmly on; a foothold." Transitive sense (as in step foot in) attested from 1530s. Related: Stepped; stepping. Originally strong (past tense stop, past participle bestapen); weak forms emerged 13c., universal from 16c. To step out "leave for a short time" is from 1530s; meaning "to go out in public in style" is from 1907. Step on it "hurry up" is 1923, from notion of gas pedal.
- step (n.)
- Old English steppa (Mercian), stæpe, stepe (West Saxon) "stair, act of stepping," from the source of step (v.). Compare Old Frisian, Middle Dutch, Dutch stap, Old High German stapfo, German Stapfe "footstep"). From late Old English as "degree on a scale." Figurative meaning "action which leads toward a result" is recorded from 1540s. In dancing, from 1670s. Meaning "type of military pace" is from 1798. Warning phrase watch your step is attested from 1911. Step by step indicating steady progression is from 1580s. To follow in (someone's) steps is from mid-13c.
Example
- 1. The first step : know your target income .
- 2. The first step is very basic .
- 3. The first step is to question the nature of power at work .
- 4. An essential step : get out of your own way .
- 5. The wolverine multi-touch experience is another transmedia step for the franchise .