trample

/ˈtræmpəl/

/ˈtræmpəl/

Other forms: trampled; tramples

To trample is to forcefully walk right over something or someone. If you fall down during a footrace, another runner might trample you.

When you trample, you're stomping or stamping: it's the opposite of walking on tippy toes. A dog might trample a flower garden while chasing a ball, and an angry child might deliberately trample her sister's sandcastle, flattening it with her feet. The verb trample comes from tramp, "walk heavily or stamp," which is rooted in the Middle Low German word trampen, "to tramp, stamp, or press upon."

Definitions of trample

1. verb

   tread or stomp heavily or roughly
   “The soldiers trampled across the fields”

   synonyms: tread

   types:

   treadle

   tread over

   type of:

   walk

   use one's feet to advance; advance by steps
2. verb

   walk on and flatten
   “trample the flowers”

   synonyms: tramp down, tread down

   type of:

   walk

   use one's feet to advance; advance by steps
3. verb

   injure by trampling or as if by trampling
   “The passerby was trampled by an elephant”

   type of:

   injure, wound

   cause injuries or bodily harm to
4. noun

   the sound of heavy treading or stomping
   “he heard the trample of many feet”

   synonyms: trampling

   type of:

   sound

   the sudden occurrence of an audible event