Word.ws English Dictionary

treads lightly

treads lightly is the third-person singular simple present indicative of tread lightly.

Meaning of tread lightly

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To proceed carefully; especially, to seek to avoid causing offense.
    • He's in a bad mood today, so you might want to tread lightly if you talk to him.
    Synonyms:
    tread carefully

Questions about treads lightly

What is treads lightly the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Treads lightly is the third-person singular simple present indicative of tread lightly.

Words near treads lightly in the dictionary

  1. treads a measure
  2. treads carefully
  3. treads down
  4. treads in someone's footsteps
  5. treads in someone's steps
  6. treads lightly
  7. treads on
  8. treads on eggshells
  9. treads on someone's corns
  10. treads on someone's toes
  11. treads out

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: treads lightly (page history and authors); tread lightly (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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