out of step

English

Prepositional phrase

out of step

1. 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^[1], Penguin, published 1977, Part 1, Chapter 4, pp. 51-52:

     The soldiers […] marched out of step in spite of the drum-beat,

2. (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, 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, 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   • 2023 February 26, Simon Tisdall, “Outdated and out of time: Biden’s crusade for global democracy is doomed to fail”, in The Observer‎^[2], →ISSN:

     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

• Finnish: epätahdissa
• French: en décalage
• Spanish: desfasado (es) m
• Swedish: i otakt

not matching or in agreement

• Finnish: eronnut (fi), omaperäinen (fi)
• French: en décalage
• Swedish: i otakt, ur fas (sv)

See also

• out of sync

References

• “out of step”, in Collins English Dictionary.