stepped on something or someone heavily and roughly, often crushing it; or treated someone badly and disrespectfully.
From Middle English 'trampen,' possibly from Old Norse or Germanic roots meaning to stamp or tread. Extended metaphorically to mean treating someone with disrespect or cruelty.
When we say someone 'trampled on' another person's feelings, we're using a physical action as a metaphor—our language reveals that we treat emotional harm and physical harm as surprisingly similar!
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