STEPS Synonyms: 191 Similar and Opposite Words

steps 1 of 2

noun

plural of step

as in path

the direction along which something or someone moves their steps led them through a long corridor

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

steps

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of step

as in walks

to go on foot I stepped across the street for a quick lunch at the new diner

Synonyms & Similar Words

as in dances

to perform a series of usually rhythmic bodily movements to music she was in her element, happily stepping around the dance floor

Synonyms & Similar Words

as in speeds

to proceed or move quickly many people wanted to linger before the president's bier, but guards kept the line of mourners stepping forward

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of steps

Noun

The state in recent months has begun nudging the river district and the eight groundwater districts within the basin to begin taking more concrete steps to slow the depletion. —

Allen Best, Denver Post, 14 June 2026 Situated right on Main Street, the hotel is conveniently close to shops and restaurants like Great Turtle Brewery & Distillery, and is only steps away from the ferry dock. —

Iona Brannon, Travel + Leisure, 13 June 2026 Blanket Test Facility Engineers would use the facility to confirm that circulating blanket fluids can effectively remove heat, withstand mechanical stress, and safely extract fuel at power plant levels—critical steps needed before advancing to more complex neutron and tritium testing. —

Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 13 June 2026 After the deadly collapse of a condo building in Surfside, Florida, many buildings are shoring up their financial reserves and taking steps to guard against increasing risk, adding to common-charge assessments. —

Andrea Riquier, USA Today, 13 June 2026 In the meantime, advocates are planning their next steps if the EPA moves forward. —

Christiana Freitag, Chicago Tribune, 13 June 2026 Virgo August 23 – September 22 The day rewards tidy, thoughtful steps. —

Tarot.com, The Orlando Sentinel, 13 June 2026 August 23 – September 22 The day rewards tidy, thoughtful steps. —

Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 13 June 2026 On a sunny afternoon in May 2024, a hundred New England foodies gathered on the steps of the US Capitol to declare New Haven, Connecticut—in as official a manner as possible—the pizza capital of the United States. —

Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 June 2026

Verb

The 2026 Puerto Rican Day Parade steps off in Midtown Manhattan on Sunday, amid a busy weekend in the city. —

Katie Houlis, CBS News, 13 June 2026 But when Taylor steps onto the stage, her words are sung back to her by a devoted audience that does not want to be anywhere else in the world in that moment. —

Bryan West, USA Today, 12 June 2026 The wounded man’s girlfriend lives in a building just steps away from the crime scene and was on the phone with her boyfriend when he was shot, a neighbor told the Daily News at the time. —

Emma Seiwell, New York Daily News, 11 June 2026 The clashes are numerous and hard to ignore, with a TV-ready temporary live sports stage steps away from the back doorstep of the White House, looking like any other UFC octagon might when the promotion takes its traveling shows to arenas around the world. —

Mark Puleo, New York Times, 11 June 2026 The 100-foot-long painting is a chance to tell not just Kahanamoku’s surfing story, but also his Olympic gold medal feats and brave lifesaving actions just steps away when a fishing boat capsized off the Newport Harbor entrance. —

Laylan Connelly, Oc Register, 3 June 2026 The Chandelier bar, with its three layers of bars encased in crystals, is still one of the most recognizable cocktail settings in town; Vesper and Ghost Donkey add very different but equally scene-y moods just steps away. —

Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 June 2026 In Florida, a meteorologist steps outside her office at dawn to look up as the thin flakes of a light snow begin to fall between the fronds of the palm trees. —

Wyatt Williams, Harpers Magazine, 26 May 2026 Villa Relais Il Termine sits inside a lush forest just steps away from the shore. —

Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 23 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for steps

Noun

And Dolan’s input was a part of the Knicks’ decision to fire Tom Thibodeau and go down the circuitous path that brought Mike Brown to their sidelines, and that, too, worked out.

— Mike Vorkunov, New York Times, 16 June 2026
Internationally collaborative and open-science efforts such as this are putting us on a path toward a meaningful treatment to halt the progression of Parkinson’s disease.

— Tara Haelle, Scientific American, 16 June 2026