stepping-stone

plural stepping-stones

1. alternativeAlternative form of stepping stone.

   "Yes, it is much more Government-controlled now. That is a stepping-stone towards what we all want, which is the Government stepping away again.

   2021 January 13, Paul Clifton, “Delivering a basis for rail changes”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 32

   2 more examples

   As I have said, it is not the intention of the Bundesbahn to use the diesel as a stepping-stone between steam and electric traction—a policy which, in the light of the excellent results obtained with modernised steam locomotives, it regards as uneconomical and unnecessary.

   1960 November, P. Ransome-Wallis, “Modern motive power of the German Federal Railways: Part Three”, in Trains Illustrated, page 678

   It had already been proved that paper soaked with silver chloride would blacken when exposed to sunlight; this discovery was one of the earliest stepping-stones toward the field of photography.

   2017, Bob Berman, Zapped: From Infrared to X-rays, the Curious History of Invisible Light, Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, pages 50-51