Word.ws English Dictionary

tread

/tɹɛd/

tread verb: to step or walk (on or across something); to trample.

tread: to step or walk (on or across something); to trample
Image: CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

tread (third-person singular simple present treads, present participle treading, simple past trod or tread or treaded, past participle trodden or trod or tread or treaded)

  1. (intransitive) To step or walk (on or across something); to trample.
    • He trod back and forth wearily.
    • Don't tread on the lawn.
  2. (transitive) To step or walk upon.
    • Actors tread the boards.
  3. (figuratively) To proceed, to behave (in a certain manner).
    • to tread lightly, to tread gently
    • to tread carefully, to tread cautiously, to tread warily
  4. To beat or press with the feet.
    • to tread a path; to tread land when too light; a well-trodden path
  5. To work a lever, treadle, etc., with the foot or the feet.
    • Round about them was a circle of girls and wives of the neighbouring tenants; "they trod the spinning-wheels with diligent feet, or were using the scraping carding-combs," as an author has it.1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 251
  6. To go through or accomplish by walking, dancing, etc.
    • I am resolved to forsake Malta, tread a pilgrimage to fair Jerusalem.1616–1619 (first performance), John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, “The Knight of Malta”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […]...
    • They have measured many a mile, / To tread a measure with you on this grass.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  7. To crush under the foot; to trample in contempt or hatred; to subdue; to repress.
    • Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 44:5
    Synonyms:
    step on
  8. (intransitive) To copulate; said of (especially male) birds.
    • When Turtles tread, and Rookes and Dawes,
      And Maidens bleach their summer smockes:c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  9. (transitive) To copulate with (a hen).
    • But if a child sees a cockerel tread a hen, or two dogs coupling, well and good. It should see these things.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)
  10. (transitive) To crush grapes with one's feet to make wine
    Synonyms:
    stomp

Noun

tread (plural treads)

  1. A step taken with the foot.
    Synonyms:
    run
  2. A manner of stepping.
    • She is coming, my own, my sweet; / Were it ever so airy a tread, / My heart would hear her and beat.1855, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page)”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC
  3. The sound made when someone or something is walking.
    • The steps fell lightly and oddly, with a certain swing, for all they went so slowly; it was different indeed from the heavy creaking tread of Henry Jekyll. Utterson sighed. "Is there never anything else?" he asked.1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
    • But when, after a singularly heavy tread and the jingle of spurs on the platform, the door flew open to the newcomer, he seemed a realization of our worst expectations.1896, Bret Harte, Barker's Luck and Other Stories
  4. (obsolete) A way; a track or path.
    • And the queint Mazes in the wanton greene,
      For lacke of tread are vndistinguishable.c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First...
  5. A 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
  6. The grooves carved into the face of a tire, used to give the tire traction.
  7. The grooves on the bottom of a shoe or other footwear, used to give grip or traction.
  8. The chalaza of a bird's egg; the treadle.
  9. The act of avian copulation in which the male bird mounts the female by standing on her back.
  10. The top of the banquette, on which soldiers stand to fire over the parapet.
  11. A bruise or abrasion produced on the foot or ankle of a horse that interferes, or strikes its feet together.

tread meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

tread in Tamil

ஒரு குறிப்பிட்டப்பாதையில் நட, மிதி, குதிரைக் குளம்புக் காயம், மதிப்பு, மிதிப்பு

tread in Urdu

قدم کا نشان, سراغ, چلنا, پاؤں سے کچلنا, قدم اٹھانا

tread in Bengali

পা ফেলা, মাড়ানো

tread in Telugu

to tread or trample
మట్టు maṭṭu
More languagesFewer languages
tread in Malayalam
സാവധാനം അടിവയ്ക്കുക, മെതിക്കുക, ചവിട്ടുക, നടന്നു വഴിതെളിക്കുക
tread in Kannada
ಒಕ್ಕು, ತುಳಿ, ಮೆಟ್ಟು, ಒಕ್ಕಿಸು
tread in Assamese
গচকা gosoka
tread in Arabic
دَعَسَ daʕasa, دَاسَ dāsa, دَهَسَ dahasa, وَطِئَ waṭiʔa
tread in Persian
پا گذاشتن pâ gozâštan, لگد کردن lagad kardan, آج âj
tread in Thai
เหยียบ yìiap
tread in Vietnamese
giẫm

Examples of tread in a sentence

  • Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.1711, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, part III:
  • yee that walk The Earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:

All 40 example sentences with tread

Synonyms of tread

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of tread

Forms of tread

Verb
third-person singular presenttreads
present participletreading
pasttrod
pasttread
pasttreaded
past participletrodden
past participletrod
past participletread
past participletreaded
alternative form (obsolete)treade
Noun
pluraltreads

Past tense of tread: trod or tread

Plural of tread: treads

Origin of tread

From Middle English treden, from Old English tredan, from Proto-West Germanic *tredan, from Proto-Germanic *trudaną.

From Middle English tred, from treden (“to tread”).

Words formed from tread

Phrases with tread

Words that rhyme with tread

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about tread

What does tread mean?
Tread means to step or walk (on or across something); to trample.
What is tread in Tamil?
Tread in Tamil is ஒரு குறிப்பிட்டப்பாதையில் நட, மிதி, குதிரைக் குளம்புக் காயம். See Tread meaning in Tamil.
How do you use tread in a sentence?
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
What part of speech is tread?
Tread can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce tread?
Tread is pronounced /tɹɛd/.
What is the past tense of tread?
The past tense of tread is trod.

Words near tread in the dictionary

  1. treacliness
  2. treacling
  3. treacly
  4. Treacy
  5. Treacys
  6. tread
  7. tread a measure
  8. tread carefully
  9. tread down
  10. tread in someone's footsteps
  11. tread in someone's steps

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tread (page history and authors); tread (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tread (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tread (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); మట్టు (Telugu) (page history and authors); tread (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tread (Kannada Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-tread.ogg.

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