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totem

[toh-tuhm]

Example Sentences Origin

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noun

a natural object or an animate being, as an animal or bird, assumed as the emblem of a clan, family, or group.

an object or natural phenomenon with which a family or sib considers itself closely related.

a representation of such an object serving as the distinctive mark of the clan or group.

anything serving as a distinctive, often venerated, emblem or symbol.

Origin:
1750–60, Americanism; < Ojibwa ninto·te·m my totem, oto·te·man his totem (probably orig. my clan-village-mate, derivative of stem o·te·- dwell in or as a village; compare o·te·na village)

Related forms

to·tem·ic

[toh-tem-ik] , adjective

to·tem·i·cal·ly, adverb

sub·to·tem, noun

sub·to·tem·ic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To totem

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Totem is always a great word to know.

So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

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Example Sentences

Two eight-and-a-half-foot-tall totem poles have been stolen from the backyard of an artist who specializes in wood carvings.

The short answer is: if you are low on the totem pole the boss has the power so you have to do what he/she wants.

These are sensible ideas, but radical in a country where energy is still a nationalist totem.

EXPAND

Two eight-and-a-half-foot-tall totem poles have been stolen from the backyard of an artist who specializes in wood carvings.

The short answer is: if you are low on the totem pole the boss has the power so you have to do what he/she wants.

These are sensible ideas, but radical in a country where energy is still a nationalist totem.

The museum also had a ten-meter long canoe which you could touch, along with drums you could play and many totem poles.

If that was true then, the bottom line is on top of the totem pole now.

So it's not all about crummy pay or being low man on the totem pole or being denied that corner office.

Among them are a carved wooden rain screen and four house posts, similar to totem poles, used to identify family dwellings.

Nels found self-acceptance in the concept of the totem animal.

Germany certainly looks hard-pressed to meet the totem budget-deficit condition.

He was rather taken aback because he was the low man on the totem pole among this group.

There's something delicious about that totem of minimalism being slathered in ostentation.

The other problem with these situations is there is little recourse for people low down the totem pole.

But development of computing comes much lower on the totem pole.

With private offices on the wane, chairs are becoming a totem of workplace prestige.

It was a spiritual transformation, the new name was a totem animal of mine.

It's sanctified ground, even though it's a single-minded cult totem for a bloodily murdered czar.

Many carvings are made from a single piece of wood and fashioned into a totem pole decorated with interlocking.

Bern's yellow-red coat of arms shows the totem animal marching upward, its red tongue jutting out of a black head.

Kushner is far from the only one picked more as a totem of political correctness than for his actual accomplishments.

Panasiuk will let them pick a family totem from a dusty, leather-bound book.

One yard has a carved wooden totem pole and at certain times of year they erect a huge teepee as well.

Firing great teachers because they happen to be low on the seniority totem pole is madness.

And the unintended consequence at the bottom of the totem pole is the kind of reprehensible behavior uncovered recently.

Beauvoir and his followers dance around a giant totem to the beat of drums.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

totem (ˈtəʊtəm)

—n
1.	(in some societies, esp among North American Indians) an object, species of animal or plant, or natural phenomenon symbolizing a clan, family, etc, often having ritual associations
2.	a representation of such an object

[C18: from Ojibwa nintōtēm mark of my family]

totemic

—*adj*

to'temically

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

totem

animal or natural object considered as the emblem of a family or clan, 1760, from Algonquian (probably Ojibwa) odoodeman "his sibling kin, his group or family," hence, "his family mark;" also attested in Fr. in 1609 in form aoutem among the Micmacs or other Indians of Nova Scotia. Totem pole is 1808,

EXPAND

in reference to west coast Canadian Indians.

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

totem definition

An animal, plant, or other object in nature that has a special relationship to a person, family, or clan and serves as a sign for that person or group.

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

totem

see low man on the totem pole.

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Related Words

totem pole totemist

totemism totemite

Idioms & Phrases

low man on the totem pole

Matching Quote

"Now defined as art, the totem has lost cult, taboo, and custom."

-Mason Cooley

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