stepping stone
- one of a series of stones acting as footrests for crossing streams, marshes, etc
- a circumstance that assists progress towards some goal
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Examples from the Web for stepping-stone
Contemporary Examples
But the deputy speakership was just a stepping-stone to the top job for al-Abadi.
I remember that being a stepping-stone for me when it comes to why he gets so aggravated.
Adam Driver on Role-Play Sex with Lena Dunham on ‘Girls’ and Adam’s Stormy Relationship with HannahMarlow Stern
March 10, 2014
Historical Examples
Rule he sought after only as a stepping-stone to larger spoils.
AnabasisXenophon
Higher education in industrial art is the stepping-stone to this.
Who knows but what this may be a stepping-stone into a successful career?
Mary Ware's Promised LandAnnie Fellows Johnston
Inasmuch as he had such a stepping-stone, the very least he could do was to make use of it.
Sentimental Education, Volume IIGustave Flaubert
Defeat has been accepted but as the stepping-stone to new endeavor.