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Glite Dictionary
to tread on

to tread on

7 3.3
To put your foot on something, often by accident
  • phrasal verb
  • /trɛd ɑn/
translation icon : pisar
  • You're treading on the evidence here.
  • tread on thin ice
  • tread on holy ground
  • tread on someone's toes

That's from like the depths of your soul and you fucking spat that out for me to tread on in my Crocs, my open toed holy Crocs, you sick fuck.

Examples

  • She always tries to avoid treading on the ants when walking outside.

  • All you need to do is live your life and not tread on others.

    Blog text (2)

  • You're treading on my feet.

    I Capture the Castle (2003)

  • There was a certain hesitancy about it, as if it knew it was treading on sacred ground.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • And please don't tread on the tulips!

    The Exile (1947)

  • The rest of the crowd walked behind him under the lightless sky, treading on the stones in fearful silence.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • He's a timid old man and quite careful not to tread on anyone's toes.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • I held up my hem so as not to tread on it, and edged slowly and unnoticed up the stairs.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Please be careful not to tread on the flowers in the garden.

  • I accidentally tread on his foot while dancing at the party.

Synonyms

to step on
vsto tread on
95 1.0

To put your foot on something, often by accident

focuses on accidental foot contact rather than routine or intentional foot movement
to tread
vsto tread on
93 3.0

To step on something with your foot, often pressing down

means placing the foot often accidentally, not necessarily heavy or crushing

Antonyms

to avoid
∞ 1.0

To stay away from something or not do it to stop something bad from happening

How Hard

to trample
82 4.4
to tread on
7 3.3
to step on
95 1.0
to touch
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

tread on infinitive
treaded on past
treaded on past participle
treading on present participle
treads on third person singular

Morphology

tread + on

The meaning 'to place or press the foot on something' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'tread' (to walk/press down with the foot) with the preposition 'on' indicating contact/location. This literal verb + preposition construction is common cross-linguistically and follows standard compositional patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Tread on comes from the simple action of putting your foot down on something; tread means to step and on shows the foot is on the object. So it now means 'to step on' or 'to press your foot on something', often by accident.