out of step
English
Prepositional phrase
out of step
- Not matching the movement of one's feet with that of others, or with an accompanying beat, while marching or walking.
- At the march-past, little Johnny was out of step with everyone else.
- 1940, Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory, Penguin, 1977, Part 1, Chapter 4, pp. 51-52,
- The soldiers […] marched out of step in spite of the drum-beat,
- (figurative) Not matching or in agreement (with someone or something).
- Synonym: out of tune
- The government is increasingly out of step with public opinion.
- 1920, Edith Wharton, chapter 21, in The Age of Innocence, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, OCLC 878563136, book II, pages 207–208:
- If, now and then, during their travels, they had fallen slightly out of step, harmony had been restored by their return to the conditions she was used to.
- 1930, Dashiell Hammet, chapter 7, in The Maltese Falcon, New York, N.Y.; London: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, OCLC 919141719, pages 77–78:
- What disturbed him was the discovery that in sensibly ordering his affairs he had got out of step, and not into step, with life.
- 2021 October 20, Ben Jones, “The benefits of (and barriers to) more leisure travel by rail”, in RAIL, number 942, page 32:
- Industry experts are concerned that if the railway doesn't change tack, it would soon find itself out of step with the needs of the nation and in the crosshairs of a Treasury looking to slash spending.
- 2023 February 26, Simon Tisdall, “Outdated and out of time: Biden’s crusade for global democracy is doomed to fail”, in The Observer, ISSN 0029-7712:
- The US president won rave reviews in Kyiv and Warsaw. But his old, cold war mindset is out of step with a changing world[.]
Antonyms
- in step
Translations
rhythmic movement opposed to that of others
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not matching or in agreement
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See also
- out of sync
References
- “out of step”, in Collins English Dictionary.