column

[ kol-uhm ]
See synonyms for column on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Architecture.

    • a rigid, relatively slender, upright support, composed of relatively few pieces.

    • a decorative pillar, most often composed of stone and typically having a cylindrical or polygonal shaft with a capital and usually a base.

  2. any columnlike object, mass, or formation: a column of smoke.

  1. a vertical row or list: Add this column of figures.

  2. a vertical arrangement on a page of horizontal lines of type, usually typographically justified: There are three columns on this page.

  3. a regular feature or series of articles in a newspaper, magazine, or the like, usually having a readily identifiable heading and the byline of the writer or editor, that reports or comments upon a particular field of interest, as politics, theater, or etiquette, or which may contain letters from readers, answers to readers' queries, etc.

  4. a long, narrow formation of troops in which there are more members in line in the direction of movement than at right angles to the direction (distinguished from line1 def. 35).

  5. a formation of ships in single file.

  6. Botany. a columnlike structure in an orchid flower, composed of the united stamens and style.

Origin of column

1
1400–50; late Middle English columne<Latin columna, equivalent to colum(e)n peak + -a feminine ending; akin to excel; replacing late Middle English colompne<Anglo-French <Latin, as above

synonym study For column

1. Column, pillar refer to upright supports in architectural structures. Pillar is the general word: the pillars supporting the roof. A column is a particular kind of pillar, especially one with an identifiable shaft, base, and capital: columns of the Corinthian order.

Other words from column

  • columned [kol-uhmd], /ˈkɒl əmd/, col·um·nat·ed [kol-uhm-ney-tid], /ˈkɒl əmˌneɪ tɪd/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use column in a sentence

  • Within were the park and the deer, and the mansion rearing its brilliant columns amidst the redundant groves of a Spanish autumn.

  • He stood still an instant, hidden by the porphyry columns of the portico.

  • Those soaring columns held up the very sky, and their foundations made the earth itself swing true.

    The Wave | Algernon Blackwood
  • When the main French columns were deployed, Lannes, with the remnant of his indomitable corps, had a brief period of rest.

    Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-Pattison
  • The first and second companies fired volleys to cover the advance of the other columns.

    The Philippine Islands | John Foreman

British Dictionary definitions for column

column

/ (ˈkɒləm) /


noun
  1. an upright post or pillar usually having a cylindrical shaft, a base, and a capital

    • a form or structure in the shape of a column: a column of air

    • a monument

  1. a row, line, or file, as of people in a queue

  2. military a narrow formation in which individuals or units follow one behind the other

  3. journalism

    • any of two or more vertical sections of type on a printed page, esp on a newspaper page

    • a regular article or feature in a paper: the fashion column

  4. a vertical array of numbers or mathematical terms

  5. botany a long structure in a flower, such as that of an orchid, consisting of the united stamens and style

  6. anatomy zoology any elongated structure, such as a tract of grey matter in the spinal cord or the stalk of a crinoid

Origin of column

1
C15: from Latin columna, from columen top, peak; related to Latin collis hill

Derived forms of column

  • columnar (kəˈlʌmnə), adjective
  • columned or columnated (ˈkɒləmˌneɪtɪd), adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012