tread
Americanverb (used without object)
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to set down the foot or feet in walking; step; walk.
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to step, walk, or trample so as to press, crush, or injure something (usually followed by on orupon ).
to tread on a person's foot.
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(of a male bird) to copulate.
verb (used with object)
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to step or walk on, about, in, or along.
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to trample or crush underfoot.
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to form by the action of walking or trampling.
to tread a path.
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to treat with disdainful harshness or cruelty; crush; oppress.
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to perform by walking or dancing.
to tread a measure.
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(of a male bird) to copulate with (a female bird).
noun
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the action of treading, stepping, or walking.
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the sound of footsteps.
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manner of treading or walking.
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a single step as in walking.
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any of various things or parts on which a person or thing treads, stands, or moves.
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the part of the under surface of the foot or of a shoe that touches the ground.
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the horizontal upper surface of a step in a stair, on which the foot is placed.
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the part of a wheel, tire, or runner that bears on the road, rail, etc.
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the pattern raised on or cut into the face of a rubber tire.
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Also caterpillar tread a metal tread on which a Caterpillar-style vehicle moves.
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Railroads. that part of a rail in contact with the treads of wheels.
idioms
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tread the boards, to act on the stage, especially professionally.
He recalled the days when he had trod the boards.
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tread water,
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Swimming. to maintain the body erect in the water with the head above the surface usually by a pumping up-and-down movement of the legs and sometimes the arms.
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Slang. to make efforts that maintain but do not further one's status, progress, or performance.
He's just treading water here until he can find another job.
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tread lightly / carefully / softly. see tread lightly.
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tread on someone's toes / corns, to offend or irritate someone.
verb
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to walk or trample in, on, over, or across (something)
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to crush or squash by or as if by treading
to tread grapes
to tread on a spider
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to subdue or repress, as by doing injury (to)
to tread on one's inferiors
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(tr) to do by walking or dancing
to tread a measure
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(tr) (of a male bird) to copulate with (a female bird)
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to proceed with delicacy or tact
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to offend or insult someone, esp by infringing on his sphere of action, etc
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to stay afloat in an upright position by moving the legs in a walking motion
noun
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a manner or style of walking, dancing, etc
a light tread
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the act of treading
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the top surface of a step in a staircase
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the outer part of a tyre or wheel that makes contact with the road, esp the grooved surface of a pneumatic tyre
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the part of a rail that wheels touch
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the part of a shoe that is generally in contact with the ground
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vet science an injury to a horse's foot caused by the opposite foot, or the foot of another horse
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a rare word for footprint
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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treadsimple
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treadssimple
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have trodperfect
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have troddenperfect
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has trodperfect
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has troddenperfect
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am treadingprogressive
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are treadingprogressive
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is treadingprogressive
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have been treadingperfect progressive
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has been treadingperfect progressive
Past
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trodsimple
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had trodperfect
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had troddenperfect
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was treadingprogressive
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were treadingprogressive
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had been treadingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tread
before 900; (v.) Middle English treden, Old English tredan; cognate with Old Frisian treda, Old Saxon tredan, Dutch treden, German treten; akin to Old Norse trotha, Gothic trudan; (noun) Middle English tred footprint, derivative of the v.
Explanation
When you tread on the earth, you walk on it. The next time your pal thinks you have it too easy, you might ask him, “Why don’t you tread in my shoes for a day?” Tread usually implies stepping with force, but it can also simply mean placing your feet, one after the other, on the ground. You might try to tread lightly on the moss in the backyard so you don't damage it. Tread is also a noun that means the mark that a tire leaves on the ground, or the actual grooves on the tire. You might be relieved that the tread marks at the crime scene didn't match your brother's truck after all.
Vocabulary lists containing tread
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act I
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Christmas Carol Vocab: A Lyrical Lexicon
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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:
That metric is currently signaling that investors should tread carefully, Opsal said in a phone interview Monday.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
Investors do need to tread cautiously when it comes to small-cap investing, though.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Starmer promised a politics that “would tread more lightly on voters’ lives” and would be guided by moderate policies aimed at fine-tuning the state rather than overhauling it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
The 24-year-old died after his car, which had insufficient tyre tread, left the A34 near Manchester and rolled before landing on its side on 26 May 2025.
From BBC ● May 16, 2026
The steady tread that they knew so well.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
Instead of tech stocks rising broadly, you might see chip-maker stocks start to heat up, or perhaps gold stocks may outperform while the broader commodities sector treads water.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 4, 2026
A government-backed pay rise of 4.2% for police officers in England and Wales "barely treads water", the association representing front-line officers says.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2025
The parade this Saturday is said to cost $45 million, not counting the expense of disrupting much of the city for four days and repairing the damage done by tank treads.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2025
Government investigators said the steel treads of the excavator struck rock and caused ignition.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2024
The central staircase, marble with brass banisters, decorated with fresh flowers in summer and wreaths in winter, was missing treads.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
In the Himalayan republic of some 30 million people, overshadowed by giant neighbours India and China, Oli previously trod a fine balance between the rivals.
From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026
Katherine Mansfield could write wonderful lines such as: “The men walked like scissors; the women trod like cats.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
This week he has trod the boards at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, hitting two half-centuries and an unbeaten 111 as England completed a rare one-day international series win.
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2026
On a negative note for Barca, De Jong was dismissed in stoppage time for a second yellow card as he trod on Iago Aspas' foot.
From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2025
He dived in and trod water, waiting for her.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
“We’ll likely follow the same path we’ve trodden in the United States, and so it will begin with a commercial footprint.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
Seoul has for decades trodden a fine line between China, its top trading partner, and the United States, its chief defence guarantor.
From Barron's ● Jan. 4, 2026
Some of those will cover ground trodden in his successful Mirror Group case in 2023 and, just like in that case, he will give evidence in person.
From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2025
This pathway is now so well trodden as to have become a trope: the male feminist who deeply, appallingly wasn’t.
From Slate ● Jan. 17, 2025
It didn’t look like anything out of the ordinary—just trodden dirt weaving around the trees.
From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu
“In this higher-rate environment, home price growth remains constrained, with housing largely treading water in nominal terms and falling in real terms,” said Nicholas Godec at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
The May employment report, due Friday, will offer more clues on whether a broad rebound in hiring is under way — or whether the labor market is just treading water.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 4, 2026
Authorities, treading a delicate line in managing an increasing number of visitors, began last year to recruit more than 500 young men from communities across the archipelago as police "homeguards".
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
Some of the prattle can feel like treading water, a delaying tactic until the inevitable confrontation scene.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
Those who came down it did so carefully, treading their way like novice ice-skaters—the only light was whatever passed through the windows of offices and from there through the translucent glass panels of doors.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
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.
