trodden

1. 1
   verb

   Past participle of tread.

   Generations of pilgrims had trodden the stone steps smooth.

   The grapes were trodden by barefoot workers in wide wooden vats.

   Note

   Only the participle takes this shape: it follows have or be (had trodden, was trodden) and does not serve as a simple past. When the feet press something down, a result word can follow, as in snow trodden flat or a floor trodden hard, and in the sense of repression, rights and people can be trodden underfoot.

2. 2
   adjective

   Crushed or pressed down by being walked on.

   Trodden flowers lay scattered across the lawn after the party.

   A narrow trodden track wound through the tall weeds to the river.

   Similarflattened, crushed, beaten

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