Word.ws English Dictionary

between-step

between-step noun: an intermediate or intermediary step, stage, process, or phase.

Noun

between-step (plural between-steps)

  1. An intermediate or intermediary step, stage, process, or phase.
    • Clearly, the bottle-arms of this "Angel" represent, at one and the same time, the mother's breasts and the father's penis — though we should not forget the between-step of the concept of the mother's penis, [...]1949, Marie Bonaparte (Princess), The life and works of Edgar Allan Poe
    • If you find that your next situation on the stepladder is very frightening, then it is obviously too big a step and you should try to think of ways to make it a little easier, as a between step.1998, Ronald M. Rapee, Overcoming Shyness and Social Phobia

Adjective

between-step (not comparable)

  1. (attributive) Intermediate; intermediary; in-process; interim.
    • Furthermore, in conjunction with various forms of pneumatic interlocking, the whole system fails safe, particularly in not holding a between-step condition.1963, Measurement and Control: Interpretative Reports for Management - Volume 2 - Page 10
    • In this appendix, a within-step source of error refers to an error of either type that occurs as a result of the operations performed inside any of the boxes shown in Figure E-1; a between-step source of error refers to either type of error that occurs ...1988, Daniel Druckman, John A. Swets, Enhancing Human Performance

Forms of between-step

pluralbetween-steps
alternative formbetween step

Origin of between-step

From between + step.

Questions about between-step

What does between-step mean?
Between-step means an intermediate or intermediary step, stage, process, or phase.
What part of speech is between-step?
Between-step can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of between-step?
The plural of between-step is between-steps.

Words near between-step in the dictionary

  1. between you, me, and the lamppost
  2. between-maid
  3. between-maids
  4. between-seasons jacket
  5. between-seasons jackets
  6. between-step
  7. between-steps
  8. between-subjects
  9. between-time
  10. between-times
  11. betweenager

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: between-step (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “between-step.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/between-step. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.