stepping stone
1
3.2
- noun
:
piedra de paso
- So I follow the path which begins to go uphill behind the hotel and becomes narrower until it has turned into a trail, initially with roughly hewn steps, then with rocks for stepping stones.
- set of stepping stones
- stepping stones that lead
- placing stepping stones
Examples
-
In the swirling pool far below are ten stepping stones linking one bank to the other.
Fiction book (1992) -
The group can only step on the stepping stone to get from point A to B, with one less block than there are members.
Academic text (2007) -
China was standing on one of the stepping stones, staring at him as if he were modern art.
Fiction book (1995) -
He walked along three stepping stones beside the pool and stopped, hearing her voice.
Fiction book (1995) -
She made her way down the slate stepping stones, around the garden, and down to the bottom of the yard.
Fiction book (1992) -
The medicine man instructed me to jump off the falls and climb along the ten stepping stones, counting as I went until I reached dry land.
Fiction book (1992) -
Beatrice picks up her skirts and moves around De Flores to escape from him over some stepping stones.
Fiction book (1998) -
Entering the painting on the right, my gaze is invited to course the curve of greenery or to traverse the stepping stones furnished by the reflected shapes of the treetops in the water.
Academic text (2007) -
The children carefully crossed the stream by stepping on the flat stones that served as stepping stones.
-
We placed stepping stones along the garden path to make it easier to walk without stepping on the grass.
Synonyms
526
1.0
A flat part of a stair where you put your foot when going up or down
A line of stones to walk across a stream or wet ground
Antonyms
How Useful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase evokes the literal image of stones you step on to cross something, so a learner who knows 'step' and 'stone' can likely infer the general sense 'an intermediate means to reach a goal.' However, the extension to a technical cybersecurity sense (a compromised machine used as an intermediary) is a domain-specific metaphorical use that may not be fully predictable without exposure, so it is not fully transparent.
Etymology
Stepping stone comes from a simple picture: a flat stone you step on to cross mud or shallow water. That's why it means a stone placed to help you get across.