Wiktionary
step short
vb. (context military English) To diminish the length or rapidity of the step according to the established rules.
Usage examples of "step short".
Alpha Two was only one step short of open hostilities, and ROE Baker authorized any squadron commander to open fire, even preemptively, if he believed his command was under threat.
There was so much obvious nonsense in what the priest had told him that there was no real reason to believe the assur-ance that he was only one step short of being able to reproduce&mdash.