I.
noun
1 sound you make when you are walking
ADJECTIVE
▪ heavy
▪
I heard his heavy ~ moving about upstairs.
▪ light , soft
▪ measured , slow , steady
VERB + TREAD
▪ hear
PREPOSITION
▪ with a … ~
▪
A policeman walked by with a slow, measured ~.
2 on a tyre/tire
ADJECTIVE
▪ tyre/tire , wheel
▪ worn
▪
The tyre/tire ~ is worn below the legal limit.
▪ tank ( esp. AmE )
TREAD + NOUN
▪ depth , pattern
II.
verb
ADVERB
▪ heavily
▪
He came down the stairs, ~ing as heavily as he could.
▪ gently , lightly , softly
▪ carefully , cautiously , gingerly , warily
▪
The government will have to ~ carefully in handling this issue. ( figurative )
▪
She trod gingerly. It would be risky to hurry.
▪ with care , with caution
▪ down
▪
She planted the seeds and trod the earth down.
PREPOSITION
▪ in ( BrE )
▪
Billy trod in a big puddle.
▪ into ( BrE )
▪
Some cake crumbs had been trodden into the carpet.
▪ on ( BrE )
▪
Be careful not to ~ on the flowers.
Tread is used with these nouns as the object: ↑ grape , ↑ ground , ↑ path