a marching step of some infantries in which the legs are swung high and kept straight and stiff.
a military exercise in which the body is balanced on one foot, without advancing, while the other foot is swung forward and back.
a military march step in which the leg is swung rigidly to an exaggerated height, esp as in the German army in the Third Reich
an abnormal gait in animals
The term is sometimes used to suggest the unthinking loyalty of followers or soldiers: “Brown has a goose-step mentality.”
First recorded in 1800–10
First recorded in 1875–80
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Soldiers marched in goose step under a red arch emblazoned with the hammer and sickle as cannons fired 100 rounds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2021
The encroaching threat of Nazism is communicated overtly in Masteroff’s book and in Marshall’s choreography, like when a chorus kick line seamlessly transitions into a goose step.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 15, 2017
Elle Fanning in “The Nutcracker in 3D,” in which rat soldiers ominously goose step.
From New York Times ● Nov. 24, 2010
And for birds of a feather to goose step together, someone must make the first move.
From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2010
The closely packed front ranks of infantry broke into the goose step as they came in sight of the town.
From New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 2, May, 1915 April-September, 1915 by Various
President Xi drove the length of the parade route to inspect his troops before each battle unit took turns to goose-step past their leader.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2025
A high-kick sequence that turns into a goose-step is one of the rare too-blunt moments in a production that otherwise moves astutely, as well as fluidly.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 4, 2019
Kim watches as military units from each branch of his million-man armed forces goose-step by in what North Koreans like to call “single-minded unity.”
From Seattle Times ● May 30, 2017
By the time came to be republished, in 1949, he had discreetly toned down anything that came across as an architectural goose-step, clearing his way to becoming one of the 20th century's most honoured of honorary Englishmen.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 20, 2013
The flags seem to gloat, seem to goose-step triumphantly down the street.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
The troops goose-stepped past in unison, and each strike of the ground echoed through the stands of 50,000 guests in Tiananmen Square.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2025
Friday’s parade featured a seemingly endless procession of tanks, missile-bearing trucks and soldiers who goose-stepped in such perfect unison that the ground shook.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2017
They twirled their sculpted mustaches and preened for a moment with their hands on their hips, then goose-stepped forward before coming to an abrupt stop before the open gate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2017
Those words hang on a kitchen wall, not far from the enormous photo of Mick Jagger onstage, one leg goose-stepped up to microphone level.
From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2012
He piled the three trays on top of each other and goose-stepped from the room solemnly—his long legs in pyjamas, under a military great coat, ending a curious effect to the spectacle.
From Captain Jim by Bruce, Mary Grant
Over the weekend, around 120 North Korean troops from the country’s infantry, air force and navy marched at Moscow’s annual Victory Day parade for the first time, goose-stepping through Red Square.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
Belarusian state media showed Kim and Lukashenko hugging at a lavish welcome programme on Wednesday involving an artillery salute and goose-stepping soldiers before a large flag-waving crowd at Kim Il Sung Square.
From Barron's ● Mar. 25, 2026
Yet, it’s worth mentioning that “Road to Revenge” has more respect for its bad guys than the 2022 original did for its craven SS platoon, one nose-pick away from goose-stepping inbreds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025
In “1984,” Big Brother survives by wielding absolute power; freedom is flattened by the thudding steps of a goose-stepping soldier and by language that makes those steps seem necessary.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025
Even the horses, Shorty Hunt noticed, were goose-stepping.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
