1. Physical Action:
* To step heavily on something, crushing or damaging it: This is the most common meaning. Imagine a crowd of people trampling flowers at a festival, or a herd of elephants trampling grass in a field.
* To walk roughly over someone or something: This can be both literal (walking over someone lying on the ground) and figurative (disregarding someone's feelings or opinions).
2. Figurative Meaning:
* To treat something with disregard or disrespect: For example, you might say someone is "trampling on someone else's rights" or "trampling on tradition."
* To overwhelm or suppress something: You could say that a new technology is "trampling on old ways of doing things."
3. Other Uses:
* In dance, "trampling" can refer to a rhythmic stomping step.
* "Trampling" can also be used in a more abstract sense to describe a chaotic or uncontrolled situation.
The exact meaning of "trampling" will depend on the context in which it is used.