Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use tread in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Tread means to step or walk (on or across something); to trample. Example: “He trod back and forth wearily.”

Examples of tread by meaning

verbTo step or walk (on or across something); to trample.

  • He trod back and forth wearily.
  • Don't tread on the lawn.

verbTo step or walk upon.

  • Actors tread the boards.

verbTo proceed, to behave (in a certain manner).

  • to tread lightly, to tread gently
  • to tread carefully, to tread cautiously, to tread warily

verbTo beat or press with the feet.

  • to tread a path; to tread land when too light; a well-trodden path

verbTo copulate with (a hen).

  • But if a child sees a cockerel tread a hen, or two dogs coupling, well and good.1923, D. H. Lawrence, Fantasia of the Unconscious
  • This bird used to try to tread her fellow-hens.1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6)

nounA walking surface in a stairway on which the foot is placed.

  • The dog was waiting for him, her paws on the second tread, pere regardant with a happy lolling tongue.1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 25

More sentences with tread

  • Visiting a traditional vineyard, we watched the grape pressers treading the grapes underfoot.From the entry presser
  • Tanks are not street-legal because their treads chew up the pavement.From the entry street-legal
  • He's in a bad mood today, so you might want to tread lightly if you talk to him.From the entry tread lightly
  • That political party is treading on minority rights.From the entry tread on
  • The mechanical digger had tanklike treads.From the entry tanklike
  • After years of acting, she decided to tread the boards as a playwright instead, penning three successful comedies for the local theater company.From the entry tread the boards
  • Around 80% of braking is done by the electric dynamic brake, rather than traditional tread brakes.2023 December 27, Ben Jones, “Inside Sellafield... by rail”, in RAIL, number 999, page 22. From the entry dynamic brake
  • I, sir, am Sir Theodore Cannon, and have treaded the boards with Booth, and with Bartlett.2019, William W[allace] Johnstone, with J. A. Johnstone, chapter 36, in The Jackals, New York, N.Y.: Pinnacle Books, Kensington Publishing…. From the entry tread the boards
  • This increasing recognition of mental health services should not be considered the measured tread of unremittent change.2014, James A. Cates, Serving the Amish: A Cultural Guide for Professionals, →ISBN, page 32. From the entry unremittent
  • What's more, it's deeply treaded and should last nearly as long as a boggo P-Zero.2003, Autocar, volume 236, numbers 6-9, page 47. From the entry treaded
  • "One must tread very lightly here: Everyone is kin to everyone else."1994, John Berendt, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. From the entry cousiny
  • The tyres used on DC-8s have a tread portion that contains three fabric re-enforcing layers.1993 June, Presidency of Civil Aviation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, “1.16.5 Wear Characteristics of Aviation Tyres”, in…. From the entry carcass
  • Do you know what pain treads the unlifting darkness with cleft hooves, with webbed feet?1979, Poetry Australia, numbers 70-72, page 67. From the entry unlifting
  • Crane, rushing in where angels might have feared to tread, made the most of it.1936 February 16, D. G., “‘Ladies of Jury’ by WPA. The Group’s First Play Is Presented Ably. Alice Ellis, in the Role of a Stubborn School…. From the entry Betty Boopish
  • At that, with the tread she has, she will take a 4½ to 5.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries. From the entry stand
  • With careful tread he passed over a hopscotch court with its forgotten pickeystone.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 5]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC. From the entry hopscotch
  • We get some of our best results from letting fools rush in where angels fear to tread.1922, Henry Ford, Samuel Crowther, chapter 5, in My Life and Work, Garden City, New York: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., →OCLC. From the entry fools rush in where angels fear to tread
  • Worships the ground you tread on but can't whack up the ginger to tell you so.1922, The Cosmopolitan - Volume 72, page 74. From the entry whack up
  • Well, "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," so I said Yes.1921, William T. Tilden, The Art of Lawn Tennis. From the entry fools rush in where angels fear to tread
  • A double file of camels with sumptuous housings moved with dignified and unhasty tread after the litters.1904, Elizabeth Miller, chapter 45, in The Yoke, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, page 590. From the entry unhasty
  • Such is the malleability of Shane Gillis, and the line between the Bidenites and the Roganites that he so carefully treads.2024 February 27, Luke Winkie, “The Paradox of Shane Gillis”, in Slate, archived from the original on 30 Jul 2024. From the entry Roganite
  • The smaller the tread and sidewall heights of the tire, the more likely the tire is to scrub.2022, Nathan Rose, Motorcycle Accident Reconstruction, SAE International, page 168. From the entry scrub
  • In the first scenario, the fund gets $13 billion, the minimum investment needed for the organisation to tread water.2010, The Economist, Aid and austerity. From the entry tread water
  • As part of BDSM play they can enhance the domineering tread of a mistress or hobble the steps of a slave.2006, Amelia May Kingston, The Triumph of Hope, page 376. From the entry mistress
  • Tread softly on your beds of algae, Mr.1989 November 6, Michael E. Lee, “seriously slack”, in alt.slack (Usenet). From the entry Kibological
  • The dragonriders turned their beasts, two hundred beasts at least, treading once again over the crops they had already destroyed.1984, Eric Affabee, The Siege of the Dragonriders (Wizards, Warriors & You; 2), New York, N.Y.: Avon, →ISBN, page 4. From the entry dragonrider
  • The rig's heavy treads machinegunned the pavement.1957, The Saturday Evening Post Stories. From the entry rump
  • Restrain also the keen fury of my heart which provokes me to tread the ways of blood-curdling strife.1914, Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Hesiod, the Homeric hymns and Homerica, London: W. Heineman, page 435. From the entry blood-curdling
  • The sun, treading the earth like a vintager, drew from it heady fragrances, crushed out of it new colours.1913, Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country. From the entry vintager
  • It gave under our tread with a spongy, puddingy feel.1912, William Hope Hodgson, The Derelict. From the entry fitment
  • On the one hand, there is deep skepticism of Washington-based power — think of the tea party and its “Don’t tread on me” bumper stickers.2025 February 26, Aziz Huq, “Conservatives on the Supreme Court May Not Fully Align With Trump”, in Politico. From the entry muscular

Meaning of tread

  1. verb To step or walk (on or across something); to trample.
  2. verb To step or walk upon.
  3. verb To proceed, to behave (in a certain manner).

Full definition of tread

Questions about tread in a sentence

How do you use tread in a sentence?
Tread is used as a verb and noun. For example: “He trod back and forth wearily.”
What is a short sentence with tread?
“Actors tread the boards.”
What does tread mean?
Tread means to step or walk (on or across something); to trample.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tread (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use tread in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/tread. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.