# stepping

Pronunciation: say "STEP-ing" /ˈstɛpɪŋ/

## Verb

1. Present participle of step. — present participle and gerund of step
   - Simple: Present participle of step. Use this form for the action happening right now.
   - _Stepping carefully across the icy bridge, the hikers reached the far side._
   - _The toddler is stepping onto the curb for the very first time._

## Noun

2. The action of lifting one foot and setting it down in order to move forward.
   - Simple: The act of lifting your foot and putting it down to walk.
   - _The rhythmic stepping of the marchers echoed across the empty square._
   - _His heavy stepping on the staircase woke the whole household._
3. An African-American dance form in which the whole body becomes an instrument, producing complex rhythms through footsteps, claps, and spoken word.
   - Simple: A type of African American dance that makes rhythms with stomps, claps, and spoken words.
   - _The sorority's stepping drew a roaring crowd at the homecoming rally._
   - _He fell in love with stepping after watching a routine on campus._
4. A specific version of a CPU model, set apart from earlier versions by added or removed features or by which bugs are present or fixed.
   - Simple: A particular version of a computer chip, with small changes from earlier ones.
   - _The B2 stepping corrected a floating-point bug that plagued the first release._
   - _Reviewers noted that the latest stepping ran noticeably cooler under heavy load._

## Origin

From Middle English steppynge, equivalent to step plus the suffix -ing.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/stepping (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).