COLUMN Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com (original) (raw)

noun

1. Architecture.
   1. a rigid, relatively slender, upright support, composed of relatively few pieces.
   2. 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.

3. a vertical row or list.

   Add this column of figures.

4. a vertical arrangement on a page of horizontal lines of type, usually typographically justified.

   There are three columns on this page.

5. 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.
6. 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 line).
7. a formation of ships in single file.
8. Botany. a columnlike structure in an orchid flower, composed of the united stamens and style.

column British

/ ˈkɒləmˌneɪtɪd, ˈkɒləm, kəˈlʌmnə /

noun

1. an upright post or pillar usually having a cylindrical shaft, a base, and a capital
2. 1. a form or structure in the shape of a column

      a column of air

   2. a monument
3. a row, line, or file, as of people in a queue
4. military a narrow formation in which individuals or units follow one behind the other
5. journalism
   1. any of two or more vertical sections of type on a printed page, esp on a newspaper page
   2. a regular article or feature in a paper

      the fashion column

6. a vertical array of numbers or mathematical terms
7. botany a long structure in a flower, such as that of an orchid, consisting of the united stamens and style
8. anatomy zoology any elongated structure, such as a tract of grey matter in the spinal cord or the stalk of a crinoid

"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

Related Words

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 Word Forms

• columnar adjective
• columnated adjective
• columned adjective

Etymology

Origin of column

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

Explanation

Someone who writes a column for a newspaper provides an article that expresses his or her viewpoint on a regular basis, such as a column about local politics which appears in the Sunday edition. If your boss says, “I’m going to give you a column!” you may be getting a regular writing gig, or you may be getting a large pillar typically used to support a building. (You’ll know which it is when you see it.)Column also refers to something that resembles a pillar or stack, such as a column of smoke, or columns of numbers that must be added. Column also describes lines of text that form long rectangles on a page, separated by a thin line of space.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing column

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

On the spreadsheets, each grant carried a “Yes/No DEI?” column and a “DEI Rationale” column.

FromSlate • May 14, 2026

And, yes, there are many objectives that I hope this column fulfilled over the last decade, and continues to do so.

FromMarketWatch • May 11, 2026

I decided to take the long way home from Honolulu for an upcoming column.

FromThe Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026

Eight names of the killed soldiers are inscribed in one column, close-up photos of the east wall show.

FromBBC • May 7, 2026

Instead of being on a wooden post, it was on a brick column; at the top, the bricks encircled the entire box in a graceful arc.

From"Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.