stepping stone
Britishnoun
-
one of a series of stones acting as footrests for crossing streams, marshes, etc
-
a circumstance that assists progress towards some goal
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.
Mayors of China's major cities have powerful patrons in the Communist Party's top committee and strong performance incentives, making these posts "important stepping stones for further promotions", according to Brookings Institution.
From BBC
Characters who could sharpen the story into something even more emotionally potent are left in the dust as mere stepping stones to propel the film’s central narrative.
From Salon
The discoveries also provide an important stepping stone for NASA's upcoming Roman Space Telescope, which will test new tools designed to image Earth-like planets.
From Science Daily
To another, it’s a stepping stone to adventure under and atop the waves.
Rocks these Chinese brothers used as simple stepping stones for decades are 190-million-year-old dinosaur footprint fossils.
From MarketWatch
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.
