trample
Americanverb (used without object)
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tramples,
present (3rd person singular)
-
trampled,
past participle, past
-
trampling
present participle
-
to tread or step heavily and noisily; stamp.
-
to tread heavily, roughly, or crushingly (usually followed by on, upon, orover ).
to trample on a flower bed.
-
to act in a harsh, domineering, or cruel manner, as if treading roughly (usually followed by on, upon, orover ).
to trample on another's feelings.
verb (used with object)
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tramples,
present (3rd person singular)
-
trampled,
past participle, past
-
trampling
present participle
-
to tread heavily, roughly, or carelessly on or over; tread underfoot.
-
to domineer harshly over; crush.
to trample law and order.
-
to put out or extinguish by trampling (usually followed byout ).
to trample out a fire.
noun
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the act of trampling.
-
the sound of trampling.
verb
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to stamp or walk roughly (on)
to trample the flowers
-
to encroach (upon) so as to violate or hurt
to trample on someone's feelings
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tramplesimple
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tramplessimple
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have trampledperfect
-
has trampledperfect
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am tramplingprogressive
-
are tramplingprogressive
-
is tramplingprogressive
-
have been tramplingperfect progressive
-
has been tramplingperfect progressive
Past
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trampledsimple
-
had trampledperfect
-
was tramplingprogressive
-
were tramplingprogressive
-
had been tramplingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of trample
1350–1400; Middle English tramplen to stamp (cognate with German trampeln ); see tramp, -le
Explanation
To trample is to forcefully walk right over something or someone. If you fall down during a footrace, another runner might trample you. When you trample, you're stomping or stamping: it's the opposite of walking on tippy toes. A dog might trample a flower garden while chasing a ball, and an angry child might deliberately trample her sister's sandcastle, flattening it with her feet. The verb trample comes from tramp, "walk heavily or stamp," which is rooted in the Middle Low German word trampen, "to tramp, stamp, or press upon."
Vocabulary lists containing trample
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
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"When Cultures Meet"
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Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie
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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.
See Examples For:
People in Guernsey are being asked to "track" not "trample" Asian hornets in an effort to protect public health and the island's biodiversity.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
It was hard squaring the hulking mass of midshipmen who would nearly trample me at Herndon with these two polite teenagers prone to nervous laughter.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
He even gets neighboring sheep farmers to bring their herds into his fields to trample the soil and eat the leftover plants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
The FPA called on the police to "immediately take action against the officers involved in this unprovoked assault and to act in the future to safeguard press freedoms, rather than trample upon them."
From Barron's ● Mar. 18, 2026
She tried not to trample their fragile growth.
From "Son" by Lois Lowry
Martinique official Serge Letchimy hailed a vote that he said had come "to shatter a system that tramples on the truth, absolves the guilty, and scorns the victims".
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
“We are not a nation that tramples the 4th Amendment and tolerates our neighbors being terrorized,” he said.
From Salon ● Jan. 29, 2026
Users on the popular Sina Weibo social network have called the incident "lawless" and have posted that such behaviour "tramples on people's civil rights".
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2022
Like soldiers who kill their comrades with friendly fire, a hyperactive immune system can cause collateral damage, triggering an inflammatory cascade that tramples not just viruses, but also healthy cells throughout the body.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 20, 2021
Rémy walks beside the chair as it tramples over lightly frosted ground.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Even sacred sites — with signage directing visitors away from the area — have been trampled by crowds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
And he barred the hospital from “aiding and abetting” any other party that might ask for help from these courts, including the children whose rights will be trampled by disclosure of their records.
From Slate ● May 19, 2026
From a standoff over a US Secret Service agent’s weapon to a US staffer trampled during a melee, tensions bubbled to the surface throughout Trump's visit to Beijing.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
An alarming study published in 2025 found that a population of rare galaxy frogs disappeared from the Western Ghats after photographers trampled over their delicate forest floor habitat.
From BBC ● May 2, 2026
Every single badge and sash and coronet was thrown off at once and trampled contemptuously underfoot, to be forgotten in a moment.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
Speaking about her daughters to the Telegraph in 2017, external, Law said: "They are both my colleagues in a way. They didn't follow in our footsteps, they rushed past us, trampling on us."
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
They were under strict instructions from Soils Solutions to avoid trampling the new lawn for six months.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
“Neither Udio, nor any other generative AI company, can be allowed to advance toward this goal by trampling the rights of copyright owners.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Bryson DeChambeau's two-shot penalty for trampling rough that improved the line of his swing path last Friday will not be forgotten.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Just to the West of the southernmost slope there was a great ring, where the turf had been torn and beaten by many trampling feet.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
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.
