step

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step

informal Used with the prepositions "in" or "out of."

1. The same pace or rhythm as someone or something else. My date kept dancing out of step with me throughout our entire prom. It was so embarrassing! Come on, man, you need to be in step with the bass and drums.

2. Agreement or accordance. You really need to get in step with the priorities of this company. You work for us, not for yourself. Making a sexist statement like that just proves how much he is out of step with the views of modern society.

step on (one's) toes

To insult, offend, or upset one, especially by getting involved in something that is one's responsibility. I want to help John out on his project, but I know it's his baby, so I don't want to step on his toes in any way. Look, you're going to have to step on a few peoples' toes if you want to get ahead in this business.

step

/tread on (someone's) toes

To hurt, offend, or encroach on the feelings, actions, or province of.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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References in classic literature ?

In due time it backed up to the door with much gong-clanging, and the capable young medico, in his white linen coat, ready, active, confident, with his smooth face half debonair, half grim, danced up the steps.

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Diavolo!" he exclaimed, "I forgot the recommendation of De Comminges, who advised me to take a guard and place it at this door, in order not to put myself at the mercy of that four-headed combination of devils." And with a movement of impatience he turned to retrace his steps.

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"Well, well, if it was fastened the steps could have nothing to do with the matter.

Ah, of course, here is a hole in the roof." With great activity, considering his bulk, he sprang up the steps and squeezed through into the garret, and immediately afterwards we heard his exulting voice proclaiming that he had found the trap-door.

"You see!" said Athelney Jones, reappearing down the steps again.

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But I'll go as far with you as I dare go, and a step beyond, for I'll have my wig sorted by the captain or I'm mistaken!

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But this time Milady lent a more attentive ear than the first, and she heard their steps die away in the distance of the corridor.

Before she went to bed she had pondered, analyzed, turned on all sides, examined on all points, the words, the steps, the gestures, the signs, and even the silence of her interlocutors; and of this profound, skillful, and anxious study the result was that Felton, everything considered, appeared the more vulnerable of her two persecutors.

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By what light there was, he would see Alan standing, like a dark shadow, on the steps; the three witnesses were hidden quite out of his view; so that there was nothing to alarm an honest man in his own house.

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Halting for an instant at the foot of the ladder, and with both hands grasping the ornamental knobs of the man-ropes, Father Mapple cast a look upwards, and then with a truly sailorlike but still reverential dexterity, hand over hand, mounted the steps as if ascending the main-top of his vessel.

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Step 3: Keep turning to the right and place your left hand on the floor or on a support on the inside of your right foot (Revolved Triangle Pose).

Strike a pose & Breeeeathe: Michelle Keenan asks Asheville's top yogis to teach us their favorite poses

Step 2--Then ask what information will give us an answer or indication we are or are not on the road to success.

Commander's corner

According to the scientific method, the very first step in an investigation is to identify the problem.

Investigating on-site incidents and accidents; Excerpted from the new book Investigations in Long-Term Care Facilities: Implementing a Standardized Model

In return for their donation sponsors got to name a step and those flying the flag for Teesside include step 165 the Lincoln Family Redcar and step 14 which has been named after Nell the Sheepdog from Moorsholm.

Find your name on the steps

Read on to learn how Brent followed the steps of the scientific method to create a high-speed and environmentally friendly dragster.

Green racer: a young race-car driver proves that environmentally friendly dragsters can crush the gas-guzzling competition