Step Meaning

/stɛp/
A1

Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Listen pronunciation

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

nounA rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a rung of a ladder.

I cannot dance one single step of Salsa.
Your success depends on whether you pass the STEP examination or not.
Her first step was to contact a solicitor for advice.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
To assemble the furniture correctly, you must complete each ____ before moving to the next.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Watch your ____ when you are walking across the loose rocks to avoid twisting your ankle today.

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *stapjaną Proto-West Germanic *stappjan Old English stæppan Middle English steppen English step 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.

"Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear." — 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 1:
"The breadth of every single step or stair should be never less than one foot." — 1624, Sir Henry Wotton, The Elements Of Architecture:
"One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier." — 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"Through the open front door ran Jessamy, down the steps to where Kitto was sitting at the bottom with the pram beside him." — 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 122:
"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." — 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:

Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words

CEFR Practice Quiz
To assemble the furniture correctly, you must complete each ____ before moving to the next.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Watch your ____ when you are walking across the loose rocks to avoid twisting your ankle today.

Expand Your Vocabulary with LexUp

Master English words using smart flashcards, play exciting word rounds, and compete with other learners worldwide.

Browse CEFR Words Alphabetically