Definition

1. Noun:

   • The sound of heavy, forceful steps: A loud, crushing noise made by many feet or heavy footsteps, often implying a lack of care for what is underfoot.

2. Verb:

   • To step on and crush or flatten: To walk heavily on something, damaging or destroying it by pressing it down with the feet.
   • To injure or kill by stepping on: To cause harm by walking over with great force.
   • To walk heavily or roughly: To tread or stomp in a forceful, often careless or destructive manner.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • From the valley, we heard the distant trample of cattle.
  • The trample of the marching soldiers echoed through the street.

• Verb:

  • To step on and crush:

    • Please don't trample the seedlings in the garden.
    • The crowd accidentally trampled the grass into mud.
  • To injure by stepping on:

    • Several people were trampled in the sudden panic at the stadium.
  • To walk heavily:

    • The children trampled through the house with their muddy boots.
    • We could hear elephants trampling through the jungle.

Advanced Usage

• "to trample on/upon" (phrasal verb):
  • Literal meaning: To walk heavily and destructively on something.

    • The hikers were careful not to trample upon the fragile ecosystem.
  • Figurative meaning: To treat something (like rights, feelings, or principles) with contempt or disrespect; to violate.

    • The new law tramples on our fundamental freedoms.
    • He felt his opinions were being trampled upon in the meeting.

Variants and Related Words

• Trampler (noun): A person or thing that tramples.
  • The elephant is an unwitting trampler of small plants.
• Trampling (noun/gerund): The act or sound of trampling.
  • The constant trampling compacted the soil.

Synonyms

• Verb: Crush, squash, stamp, stomp, tread, tramp.
• Noun: Stomp, tread, stampede (specifically for a chaotic, running trample).

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Trample down: To crush and flatten by treading on. (Often used interchangeably with "trample").
  • The fence was trampled down by the escaping cattle.

Related Idioms

• To trample underfoot: To treat with complete disregard or contempt; to crush utterly (both literally and figuratively).
  • The dictator trampled the people's hopes underfoot.
• To trample on someone's toes: To offend or upset someone by interfering in their affairs. (A variant of "step on someone's toes").
  • I didn't mean to trample on your toes by reorganizing the files.

Noun

1. the sound of heavy treading or stomping
   • he heard the trample of many feet

Verb

1. walk on and flatten
   • tramp down the grass
   • trample the flowers
2. injure by trampling or as if by trampling
   • The passerby was trampled by an elephant
3. tread or stomp heavily or roughly
   • The soldiers trampled across the fields