doorstep
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The sill of a door.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dawrstepSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdɔɹstɛp
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
architecture
The sill of a door; a horizontal piece of wood or stone that forms the bottom of a doorway and offers support when passing through a doorway
figuratively
One's immediate neighbourhood or locality.
architecture
An outside step leading up to the door of a building, usually a home.
ukinformal
A thick slice, especially of bread.
verb
intransitive
To visit one household after another to solicit sales, charitable donations, political support, etc.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The sill of a door; a horizontal piece of wood or stone that forms the bottom of a doorway and offers support when passing through a doorway
Used this way, doorstep is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- doorsill , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.