Trampling

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of walking heavily and crushing whatever is beneath the feet ; behaving in a way that disregards or suppresses others' rights or feelings
2. Moving with forceful steps that grind down or damage an area ; treating people or things harshly and without concern
3. The process of stepping on something with great pressure, often causing damage ; exercising power in a brutal or insensitive manner

Etymology: "Trampling" is the present participle of "trample," and the verb grew from a more basic word: "tramp," meaning to tread heavily or stamp. Middle English speakers used "tramplen" and "trampelen" to mean "to walk heavily," with no sense of crushing anything. The "-le" ending is a frequentative suffix, one that marks repeated or continued action, so trampling is literally a matter of tramping again and again. The meaning darkened over time as the heavy stepping gained a destructive edge. Walking heavily became stamping, and stamping became crushing underfoot, the sense the word carries today. Its relatives across the North Sea show the same pattern: Dutch "trampelen" and German "trampeln" both preserve the idea of noisy, forceful stepping.

Synonyms: treading, stomping

Antonyms: protecting