TREAD (trod, trodden)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: trod    , trodden   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tread mean? 

• TREAD (noun)
  The noun TREAD has 4 senses:

1. a step in walking or running

2. the grooved surface of a pneumatic tire

3. the part (as of a wheel or shoe) that makes contact with the ground

4. structural member consisting of the horizontal part of a stair or step

  Familiarity information: TREAD used as a noun is uncommon.

• TREAD (verb)
  The verb TREAD has 6 senses:

1. put down or press the foot, place the foot

2. tread or stomp heavily or roughly

3. crush as if by treading on

4. brace (an archer's bow) by pressing the foot against the center

5. apply (the tread) to a tire

6. mate with

  Familiarity information: TREAD used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TREAD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A step in walking or running

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

pace; stride; tread

Hypernyms ("tread" is a kind of...):

step (the act of changing location by raising the foot and setting it down)

Holonyms ("tread" is a part of...):

walk; walking (the act of traveling by foot)

Derivation:

tread (put down or press the foot, place the foot)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The grooved surface of a pneumatic tire

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("tread" is a kind of...):

surface (the outer boundary of an artifact or a material layer constituting or resembling such a boundary)

Holonyms ("tread" is a part of...):

pneumatic tire; pneumatic tyre (a tire made of reinforced rubber and filled with compressed air; used on motor vehicles and bicycles etc)

Derivation:

tread (apply (the tread) to a tire)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The part (as of a wheel or shoe) that makes contact with the ground

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("tread" is a kind of...):

contact; tangency ((electronics) a junction where things (as two electrical conductors) touch or are in physical contact)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Structural member consisting of the horizontal part of a stair or step

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("tread" is a kind of...):

structural member (support that is a constituent part of any structure or building)

Holonyms ("tread" is a part of...):

stair; step (support consisting of a place to rest the foot while ascending or descending a stairway)

• TREAD (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they tread    ... he / she / it treads   
Past simple: trod   
Past participle: trodden   
-ing form: treading   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Put down or press the foot, place the foot

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

step; tread

Context example:

step on the brake

Hypernyms (to "tread" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tread"):

step on; tread on (place or press the foot on)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

tread (a step in walking or running)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Tread or stomp heavily or roughly

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

trample; tread

Context example:

The soldiers trampled across the fields

Hypernyms (to "tread" is one way to...):

walk (use one's feet to advance; advance by steps)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tread"):

treadle (tread over)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

The children tread to the playground

Sense 3

Meaning:

Crush as if by treading on

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

tread grapes to make wine

Hypernyms (to "tread" is one way to...):

crush; mash; squash; squeeze; squelch (to compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Brace (an archer's bow) by pressing the foot against the center

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "tread" is one way to...):

brace (support by bracing)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Apply (the tread) to a tire

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "tread" is one way to...):

apply; give (give or convey physically)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

tread (the grooved surface of a pneumatic tire)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Mate with

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

male birds tread the females

Hypernyms (to "tread" is one way to...):

copulate; couple; mate; pair (engage in sexual intercourse)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

 Context examples 

The blind was down, and I went over to raise it gently, whilst Van Helsing stepped, with his soft, cat-like tread, over to the bed.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

If you must go to him, see at least that he doth not turn you from the narrow path upon which you have learned to tread.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A tread creaked on the stairs at last.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Only, he added, I'm glad I trod on Master Pew's corns, for by this time he had heard my story.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

You must stand clear, Mr. Holmes, or be trodden under foot.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was like treading old ground again.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

She did not see him, but she says that she could not be mistaken in his quick, firm tread.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was the tread of some animal—the rhythm of soft but heavy pads placed cautiously upon the ground.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My love would have been devoted—would have trod your paltry whimpering under foot!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Indeed, she trod the earth lightly, and in her constitution there was little of the robust clay.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)