Column Meaning
/ˈkɒləm/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA solid upright structure designed usually to support a larger structure above it, such as a roof or horizontal beam, but sometimes for decoration.
nounA vertical line of entries in a table, usually read from top to bottom.
Sentence Examples
The geyser sends up a column of hot water every two hours.
Add up this column of figures.
I just love to read the agony column in teenage magazines.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The marble ____ supported the heavy roof of the ancient temple.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She writes a weekly lifestyle ____ for the local newspaper that many people enjoy reading.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English columne, columpne, columpe, borrowed from Old French columne, from Latin columna (“a column, pillar, post”), originally a collateral form of columen, contraction culmen (“a pillar, top, crown, summit”). Akin to Latin collis (“a hill”), celsus (“high”), probably to Ancient Greek κολοφών (kolophṓn, “top, summit”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I have always argued that despite my opposition to rail privatisation, I should be grateful that John Major won the 1992 election on a platform to sell off the railways, as otherwise my column would have disappeared given the paucity of things to write about."
— 2024 January 10, Christian Wolmar, “A time for change? ... just as it was back in issue 262”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 60:
"The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. Whirling wreaths and columns of burning wind, rushed around and over them."
— 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The marble ____ supported the heavy roof of the ancient temple.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She writes a weekly lifestyle ____ for the local newspaper that many people enjoy reading.