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Definition of "trample" []

  • To beat down with the feet so as to crush, bruise, or destroy; tramp on. (verb-transitive)
  • To treat harshly or ruthlessly: would trample anyone who got in their way. (verb-transitive)
  • To tread heavily or destructively: trampling on the flowers. (verb-intransitive)
  • To inflict injury as if by treading heavily: "trampling on the feelings of those about you” ( Thornton Wilder). (verb-intransitive)
  • The action or sound of trampling. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "trample" in a sentence
  • "Lisa Madigan, who is the political combine's best hope in 2010 to keep the cycle of old-style politics going, takes money from lobbyists and cronies as she works as the state's chief legal officer and says the reason she has knowingly ignored the violation of state laws by her fellow politicians is because she might "trample" on what the Feds "might do someday.""
  • "They collect crowds to fill theatres, and there they introduce choirs of harlots and prostituted children, yea such as trample on nature herself; and they make the whole people sit on high, and so they captivate their city; so they crown these mighty kings whom they are perpetually admiring for their trophies and victories."
  • "CAW president Ken Lewenza said such a provision would "trample" workers 'rights."