Step vs. Slope — What's the Difference?

The single complete movement of raising one foot and putting it down in another spot, as in walking.

In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line is a number that describes both the direction and the steepness of the line. Slope is often denoted by the letter m; there is no clear answer to the question why the letter m is used for slope, but its earliest use in English appears in O'Brien (1844) who wrote the equation of a straight line as "y = mx + b" and it can also be found in Todhunter (1888) who wrote it as "y = mx + c".Slope is calculated by finding the ratio of the "vertical change" to the "horizontal change" between (any) two distinct points on a line.

A manner of walking; a particular gait.

A surface of which one end or side is at a higher level than another; a rising or falling surface

A fixed rhythm or pace, as in marching

A person from East Asia, especially Vietnam.

The sound of a footstep.

(of a surface or line) be inclined from a horizontal or vertical line; slant up or down

A footprint

Move in an idle or aimless manner

The distance traversed by moving one foot ahead of the other.

To diverge from the vertical or horizontal; incline

A very short distance

To move or walk

Steps Course; path

To cause to slope

One of a series of rhythmical, patterned movements of the feet used in a dance

An inclined line, surface, plane, position, or direction.

A rest for the foot in ascending or descending.

A stretch of ground forming a natural or artificial incline

Steps Stairs.

A deviation from the horizontal.

Something, such as a ledge or an offset, that resembles a step of a stairway.

The amount or degree of such deviation.

A low platform used for exercise, as in step aerobics.

The rate at which an ordinate of a point of a line on a coordinate plane changes with respect to a change in the abscissa.

One of a series of actions, processes, or measures taken to achieve a goal.

The tangent of the angle of inclination of a line, or the slope of the tangent line for a curve or surface.

A stage in a process

Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a person of East Asian birth or ancestry.

A degree in progress or a grade or rank in a scale

An area of ground that tends evenly upward or downward.

The interval that separates two successive tones of a scale, especially a major second, as between C and D in the scale of C major.

The degree to which a surface tends upward or downward.

A degree of a scale.

(mathematics) The ratio of the vertical and horizontal distances between two points on a line; zero if the line is horizontal, undefined if it is vertical.

(Nautical) The block in which the heel of a mast is fixed.

(mathematics) The slope of the line tangent to a curve at a given point.

To put or press the foot

The angle a roof surface makes with the horizontal, expressed as a ratio of the units of vertical rise to the units of horizontal length (sometimes referred to as run).

To shift or move slightly by taking a step or two

A person of Chinese or other East Asian descent.

To walk a short distance to a specified place or in a specified direction

(intransitive) To tend steadily upward or downward.

To move with the feet in a particular manner

(transitive) To form with a slope; to give an oblique or slanting direction to; to incline or slant.

To move into a new situation by or as if by taking a single step

To try to move surreptitiously.

To treat someone with arrogant indifference

(military) To hold a rifle at a slope with forearm perpendicular to the body in front holding the butt, the rifle resting on the shoulder.

To put or set (the foot) down

(obsolete) Sloping.

To measure by pacing

(obsolete) slopingly

To furnish with steps; make steps in

An oblique direction; a line or direction including from a horizontal line or direction; also, sometimes, an inclination, as of one line or surface to another.

(Computers) To cause (a computer) to execute a single instruction.

Any ground whose surface forms an angle with the plane of the horizon.

(Nautical) To place (a mast) in its step.

The part of a continent descending toward, and draining to, a particular ocean; as, the Pacific slope.

An advance or movement made from one foot to the other; a pace.

Sloping.

A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a rung of a ladder.

In a sloping manner.

The part of a spade, digging stick or similar tool that a digger's foot rests against and presses on when digging; an ear, a foot-rest.

To form with a slope; to give an oblique or slanting direction to; to direct obliquely; to incline; to slant; as, to slope the ground in a garden; to slope a piece of cloth in cutting a garment.

A distinct part of a process; stage; phase.

To take an oblique direction; to be at an angle with the plane of the horizon; to incline; as, the ground slopes.

A running board where passengers step to get on and off the bus.

To depart; to disappear suddenly.

The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running.

An elevated geological formation;

A small space or distance.

The property possessed by a line or surface that departs from the horizontal;

A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.

Be at an angle;

A gait; manner of walking.

Proceeding; measure; action; act.

(in the plural) A walk; passage.

(in the plural) A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position.

(nautical) A framing in wood or iron which is intended to receive an upright shaft; specifically, a block of wood, or a solid platform upon the keelson, supporting the heel of the mast.

(machines) One of a series of offsets, or parts, resembling the steps of stairs, as one of the series of parts of a cone pulley on which the belt runs.

(machines) A bearing in which the lower extremity of a spindle or a vertical shaft revolves.

(music) The interval between two contiguous degrees of the scale.

(kinematics) A change of position effected by a motion of translation.

(programming) A constant difference between consecutive values in a series.

(colloquial) A stepchild.

(slang) A stepsibling.

(intransitive) To move the foot in walking; to advance or recede by raising and moving one of the feet to another resting place, or by moving both feet in succession.

(intransitive) To walk; to go on foot; especially, to walk a little distance.

(intransitive) To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely.

To dance.

To move mentally; to go in imagination.

(transitive) To set, as the foot.

To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect.

To move the foot in walking; to advance or recede by raising and moving one of the feet to another resting place, or by moving both feet in succession.

To walk; to go on foot; esp., to walk a little distance; as, to step to one of the neighbors.

To walk slowly, gravely, or resolutely.

Fig.: To move mentally; to go in imagination.

To set, as the foot.

To fix the foot of (a mast) in its step; to erect.

An advance or movement made by one removal of the foot; a pace.

A rest, or one of a set of rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a round of a ladder.

The space passed over by one movement of the foot in walking or running; as, one step is generally about three feet, but may be more or less. Used also figuratively of any kind of progress; as, he improved step by step, or by steps.

A small space or distance; as, it is but a step.

A print of the foot; a footstep; a footprint; track.

Gait; manner of walking; as, the approach of a man is often known by his step.

Proceeding; measure; action; an act.

Walk; passage.

A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position.

In general, a framing in wood or iron which is intended to receive an upright shaft; specif., a block of wood, or a solid platform upon the keelson, supporting the heel of the mast.

One of a series of offsets, or parts, resembling the steps of stairs, as one of the series of parts of a cone pulley on which the belt runs.

The intervak between two contiguous degrees of the csale.

A change of position effected by a motion of translation.

At Eton College, England, a shallow step dividing the court into an inner and an outer portion.

Any maneuver made as part of progress toward a goal;

The distance covered by a step;

The act of changing location by raising the foot and setting it down;

Support consisting of a place to rest the foot while ascending or descending a stairway;

Relative position in a graded series;

A short distance;

The sound of a step of someone walking;

A musical interval of two semitones

A mark of a foot or shoe on a surface;

A solid block joined to the beams in which the heel of a ship's mast or capstan is fixed

A sequence of foot movements that make up a particular dance;

Shift or move by taking a step;

Put down or press the foot, place the foot;

Cause (a computer) to execute a single command

Treat badly;

Furnish with steps;

Move with one's feet in a specific manner;

Walk a short distance to a specified place or in a specified manner;

Place (a ship's mast) in its step

Measure (distances) by pacing;

Move or proceed as if by steps into a new situation;