Word.ws English Dictionary

upstepping

upstepping is the present participle and gerund of upstep.

Meaning of upstep

Verb

upstep (third-person singular simple present upsteps, present participle upstepping, simple past and past participle upstepped)

  1. To apply an upward shift of tone between the syllables or words of a tonal language.
    • Thomas (1974:25) considers, but rejects, an analysis very similar to the present proposal […] on the grounds that an analysis that simply upsteps a high-toned TBU before a low tone (one component) is simpler than one that requires the three components just stated.1999, Keith Snider, “Tonal 'Upstep' in Engenni”, in Journal of West African Languages, volume 27, number 1, page 14

See all 2 meanings of upstep

Questions about upstepping

What is upstepping the present participle and gerund of?
Upstepping is the present participle and gerund of upstep.

Words near upstepping in the dictionary

  1. upsteal
  2. upstealing
  3. upsteals
  4. upstep
  5. upstepped
  6. upstepping
  7. upsteps
  8. upstick
  9. upstir
  10. upstirred
  11. upstirring

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: upstepping (page history and authors); upstep (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: “upstepping.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/upstepping. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.