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Synonyms

footstep

American  
[foot-step] / ˈfʊtˌstɛp /

noun

  1. the setting down of a foot, or the sound so produced; footfall; tread.

  2. the distance covered by a step in walking; pace.

  3. a footprint.

  4. a step by which to ascend or descend.

idioms

  1. follow in someone's footsteps, to succeed or imitate another person.

footstep British  
/ ˈfʊtˌstɛp /

noun

  1. the action of taking a step in walking

  2. the sound made by stepping or walking

  3. the distance covered with a step; pace

  4. a footmark

  5. a single stair; step

  6. to continue the tradition or example of another

"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
footstep More Idioms  

  1. see follow in someone's footsteps.

Etymology

Origin of footstep

First recorded in 1175–1225, footstep is from Middle English foote steppe. See foot, step

Vocabulary lists containing footstep

Spelling Practice 1, Unit 7

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"What think you of the Bloody Footstep?" asked he.

From Doctor Grimshawe's Secret — a Romance by Hawthorne, Nathaniel

Author's note.—"Referring to places and people in England: the Bloody Footstep sometimes."

From Doctor Grimshawe's Secret — a Romance by Hawthorne, Nathaniel

He looked, as he stept over it, for the Bloody Footstep, with which the house had so long been associated in his imagination; but could nowhere see it.

From Doctor Grimshawe's Secret — a Romance by Hawthorne, Nathaniel

On one occasion, Nathaniel Hawthorne enjoyed the hospitality of Smithells Hall, Lancashire, and was so impressed with the well-known legend of "The Bloody Footstep" that he, in three separate instances, founded fictions upon it.

From Strange Pages from Family Papers by Dyer, T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton)

It has no connection with the sketch already mentioned, in which Alcott's personality becomes the mainspring, but with another abortive romance, called "The Ancestral Footstep," which Hawthorne commenced while he was in England.

From The Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne by Stearns, Frank Preston

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.