noun
footfall
FOOT-fawl/ˈfʊtfɔːl/
A step made by a person's foot.
The heavy footfall on the hollow floor makes the nearby listener turn.
Etymology
A footfall is literally the foot coming down in a step. The word originally named the tread of the foot; the selected sense focuses on the sound that tread makes.
In context
He put down his glass and walked toward the staircase door. Again, I remarked his lameness in the soft padding sound of his footfall
More examples
- She places each footfall carefully on the rocky trail.
- His heavy footfalls shake the old wooden stairs.
- I hear soft footfalls in the hallway.
Forms
footfall · footfalls
Similar words
- footstep
- More common for an individual step or its sound.
- step
- Common everyday term; also describes stages in a process.