Word.ws English Dictionary

stepping aside

stepping aside is the present participle and gerund of step aside.

Meaning of step aside

Verb

step aside (third-person singular simple present steps aside, present participle stepping aside, simple past and past participle stepped aside)

  1. (intransitive) To move out of the way of somebody or something.
    • I stepped aside to let her pass.
  2. (figuratively, intransitive) To make room for others as replacements by withdrawing from a position or service.
    • She added: “Today I ask Donald Trump to step aside and for the RNC to replace him with Gov. Mike Pence.”2016 October 8, Katie Glueck, quoting Carly Fiorina, “Top Republican women pull support from Trump”, in Politico
  3. (intransitive) To deviate from the right or proper path; to err or stray.
    • To step aside is human.18th c., Robert Burns, Address to the Unco Guid, or The Rigidly Righteous
  4. (intransitive) To walk to a little distance; retire for the occasion.

Questions about stepping aside

What is stepping aside the present participle and gerund of?
Stepping aside is the present participle and gerund of step aside.

Words near stepping aside in the dictionary

  1. steppeth
  2. steppic
  3. steppification
  4. steppin'
  5. stepping
  6. stepping aside
  7. stepping back
  8. stepping between
  9. stepping feet illusion
  10. stepping foot
  11. stepping forward

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stepping aside (page history and authors); step aside (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.

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