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.
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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
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has trampledperfect
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am tramplingprogressive
-
are tramplingprogressive
-
is tramplingprogressive
-
have been tramplingperfect progressive
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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:
The rodents have scent glands on their feet and trample on their droppings to mark their territory.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 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
One running gag involves the hotel’s irritation at the nearby goats who trample on the hoods of parked cars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 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
I let the tears trample my face in complete silence, guilty that I couldn’t even summon the courage to speak about him.
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
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
"The fascination of glow worms for me is that they are in effect magic," says ecologist Pete Cooper, as he tramples through thistles and nettles.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2023
“It tramples on students’ rights,” Bonta told reporters.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 28, 2023
I don’t move because my cowardice tramples me, even as I try to lift my spirit from its knees.
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
USC was trampled throughout by a Rutgers offense which, heading into Saturday, had an interception on more than 10% of its passes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Shortly after coming off the course, DeChambeau is driven off to the fifth hole by rules officials to discuss whether he trampled down grass near his ball.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Then, in a separate incident, he was trampled unconscious by cattle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 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
It’s no effort to track him, even though he's moving so fast, since he leaves a clear, trampled path in his wake.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
"When I was on the floor, people were trampling me," the 30-year-old told the BBC.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
He saw more trash, several guests going off trail and trampling plant life, and far fewer park rangers to tell them to stop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
That makes them prone to trampling, said Candace Fallon, a senior endangered species conservation biologist at science nonprofit Xerces Society.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
"They're just trampling over all of the graves, destroying the flowers, eating the flowers and leaving a mess behind," said David.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
A beggar shuffled in front of it, then dove out of the way as a dark purple stegosaurus trundled by, nearly trampling him, bags of mail and packages flapping at its flanks.
From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older
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.
