to follow in someone's footsteps
28
3.4
- idiom
:
seguir los pasos de
- She decided to follow in her mother's footsteps and became a doctor too.
Examples
-
John is an African American male with dreams of following in his parents’ footsteps by becoming a doctor.
Academic text (2017) -
But I am hopeful that the board will allow me the opportunity to follow in my father's footsteps.
-
And quickly, her baby brother is following in her footsteps.
Fiction book (1994) -
I was expected to follow in my sister's footsteps.
Fiction book (1997) -
You all set to follow in your father's footsteps?
-
And it looks like even more of her peers are going to be following in her footsteps.
Blog text (27) -
More importantly, she had no intention of following in her sister Alice's footsteps and becoming a teacher.
Academic text (2002) -
Carlin's son Bernard followed in his father's footsteps.
Academic text (2017) -
There's no doubt that many women today are following in Priscilla's footsteps.
Blog text (26) -
As a self-made man myself, I have to express my admiration for how you followed in your father's footsteps.
Synonyms
186
2.7
Copy the way someone speaks, looks, or acts
177
1.0
Do something the same way someone else does
59
6.0
To try to be as good as someone by copying what they do
33
3.8
To do the same thing someone else did
2
3.5
Try to behave like someone you admire
1
4.1
Copy what someone does to get the same results
Antonyms
How Closely
59
6.0
28
3.4
177
1.0
77
3.1
253
2.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
follow + in + someone's + footstep
The literal combination ('follow' + 'in' + 'someone's' + 'footsteps') evokes going behind another person's physical steps, which readily extends metaphorically to copying their actions or career. This figurative mapping is fairly predictable and found across languages, but it still requires a non-literal inference rather than strict compositionality, so a B1 learner who knows the words may often understand it but not always immediately.
Etymology
Follow in someone's footsteps creates a clear picture: you walk behind someone and put your feet into their footsteps, so to follow them is to go the same way. That's why it now means 'to do the same thing as someone else', often a parent or teacher.