tread
to set down the foot or feet in walking; step; walk.
to step, walk, or trample so as to press, crush, or injure something (usually followed by on or upon): to tread on a person's foot.
(of a male bird) to copulate.
to step or walk on, about, in, or along.
to trample or crush underfoot.
to form by the action of walking or trampling: to tread a path.
to treat with disdainful harshness or cruelty; crush; oppress.
to perform by walking or dancing: to tread a measure.
(of a male bird) to copulate with (a female bird).
the action of treading, stepping, or walking.
the sound of footsteps.
manner of treading or walking.
a single step as in walking.
any of various things or parts on which a person or thing treads, stands, or moves.
the part of the under surface of the foot or of a shoe that touches the ground.
the horizontal upper surface of a step in a stair, on which the foot is placed.
the part of a wheel, tire, or runner that bears on the road, rail, etc.
the pattern raised on or cut into the face of a rubber tire.
Also caterpillar tread . a metal tread on which a Caterpillar-style vehicle moves.
Railroads. that part of a rail in contact with the treads of wheels.
Idioms about tread
tread lightly / carefully / softly. See entry at tread lightly.
tread on someone's toes / corns, to offend or irritate someone.
tread the boards, to act on the stage, especially professionally: He recalled the days when he had trod the boards.
tread water,
Swimming. to maintain the body erect in the water with the head above the surface usually by a pumping up-and-down movement of the legs and sometimes the arms.
Slang. to make efforts that maintain but do not further one's status, progress, or performance: He's just treading water here until he can find another job.
Origin of tread
1Other words from tread
- tread·er, noun
- o·ver·tread, noun
- sub·tread, noun
Words Nearby tread
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use tread in a sentence
Every bottle of water, every shell, every replacement tank tread had to be shipped from continental Europe across the Mediterranean to North Africa.
The Real Biggest Myths About World War II, According to a Military Historian | Olivia B. Waxman | May 7, 2021 | TimeTires must be inflated properly, and a good tread depth will help with traction on wet roads.
Hints From Heloise: April showers bring slippery roads | Heloise Heloise | April 15, 2021 | Washington PostBergeson says that Toyo uses different compound materials for the two categories of tires, as well as different tread designs.
The pattern of that tread will also be designed to grip loose surfaces, while evacuating water, mud, small rocks, and snow as efficiently as possible.
To merit this stamp, a two-dimensional analysis of a tire’s tread pattern must demonstrate that at least 25 percent of the tread’s surface area is made up of grooves.
We feel their strangeness when we read their words—they lived on a plane where few dare to tread.
Sor Juana: Mexico’s Most Erotic Poet and Its Most Dangerous Nun | Katie Baker | November 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt really set the tone for the second half of Season 5, ending with that great “tread lightly” encounter between Hank and Walt.
Bryan Cranston on Walter White’s Future, Directing ‘Better Call Saul,’ and Hillary 2016 | Marlow Stern | August 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe interim, however, is ours, and here we must tread carefully.
Alleged Santa Barbara Killer Elliot Rodger and the Twisted Cult of Modern Masculinity | James Poulos | May 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe moral philosopher Michael Sandel observed, “Fundamentalists rush in where liberals fear to tread.”
How Liberals Abandoned Religion to the Fundamentalist Right | Christopher Moraff | May 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTShe says that Italy must tread carefully not to allow this to happen.
‘Hero’ Doc Accused of Harvesting Stem Cells in Dirty Basements | Barbie Latza Nadeau | April 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTTheir heads might have been turned upside-down, so absolutely did they tread upon blue ether.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories | Kate ChopinYou know MacRae, Lyn; it's mighty poor business for any man to tread on his toes, much less go walking rough-shod all over him.
Raw Gold | Bertrand W. SinclairAt last, some one came, a man, and his firm tread of boot-shod feet betokened a soldier.
The Red Year | Louis TracyHe shall not tread out wine in the press that was wont to tread it out: the voice of the treaders I have taken away.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version | VariousThe lowing of cattle and the soft stumbling tread of many unshod feet told him that some one was approaching.
The Red Year | Louis Tracy
British Dictionary definitions for tread
/ (trɛd) /
to walk or trample in, on, over, or across (something)
(when intr, foll by on) to crush or squash by or as if by treading: to tread grapes; to tread on a spider
(intr sometimes foll by on) to subdue or repress, as by doing injury (to): to tread on one's inferiors
(tr) to do by walking or dancing: to tread a measure
(tr) (of a male bird) to copulate with (a female bird)
tread lightly to proceed with delicacy or tact
tread on someone's toes to offend or insult someone, esp by infringing on his sphere of action, etc
tread water to stay afloat in an upright position by moving the legs in a walking motion
a manner or style of walking, dancing, etc: a light tread
the act of treading
the top surface of a step in a staircase
the outer part of a tyre or wheel that makes contact with the road, esp the grooved surface of a pneumatic tyre
the part of a rail that wheels touch
the part of a shoe that is generally in contact with the ground
vet science an injury to a horse's foot caused by the opposite foot, or the foot of another horse
a rare word for footprint
Origin of tread
1Derived forms of tread
- treader, noun
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with tread
In addition to the idioms beginning with tread
- tread the boards
- tread water
also see:
- fools rush in where angels fear to tread
- step (tread) on one's toes
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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