Tread
/tɹɛd/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo step or walk (on or across something); to trample.
verbTo step or walk upon.
Sentence Examples
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
When a tire loses its tread, it's time to buy a new one.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Be careful where you ____ because the floor is covered with broken glass.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please be careful not to ____ on the young plants while you are walking through the garden this afternoon today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English treden, from Old English tredan, from Proto-West Germanic *tredan, from Proto-Germanic *trudaną.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet haue troden, shall be thine inheritance, and thy childrens for euer, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 14:9:
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
— 1711, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, part III:
"yee that walk The Earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep"
— 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:
"Round about them was a circle of girls and wives of the neighbouring tenants; "they trod the spinning-wheels with diligent feet, or were using the scraping carding-combs," as an author has it."
— 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 251:
"I am resolved to forsake Malta, tread a pilgrimage to fair Jerusalem."
— 1616–1619 (first performance), John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, “The Knight of Malta”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act V, scene ii:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Be careful where you ____ because the floor is covered with broken glass.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please be careful not to ____ on the young plants while you are walking through the garden this afternoon today.