column
pronunciation
How to pronounce column in British English:
UK [ˈkɒləm]
How to pronounce column in American English:
US [ˈkɑːləm]
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- Noun:
- a line of (usually military) units following one after another
- a vertical glass tube used in column chromatography; a mixture is poured in the top and washed through a stationary substance where components of the mixture are adsorbed selectively to form colored bands
- a linear array of numbers one above another
- anything tall and thin approximating the shape of a column or tower
- an article giving opinions or perspectives
- a vertical structure standing alone and not supporting anything (as a monument or a column of air)
- (architeture) a tall cylindrical vertical upright and used to support a structure
Word Origin
- column
- column: [15] The notion underlying column is of ‘height, command, extremity’. It comes, via Old French colomne, from Latin columna ‘pillar’, which was probably a derivative of columen, culmen ‘top, summit’ (from which English also gets culminate). It goes back ultimately to a base *kol-, *kel-, distant ancestor of English excel and hill. The word’s application to vertical sections of printed matter dates from the 15th century, but its transference to that which is written (as in ‘write a weekly newspaper column’) is a 20thcentury development.=> culminate, excel, hill
- column (n.)
- mid-15c., "vertical division of a page," also "a pillar, post," from Old French colombe (12c., Modern French colonne "column, pillar"), from Latin columna "pillar," collateral form of columen "top, summit," from PIE root *kel- (4) "to project, be prominent" (see hill). Sense of "matter written for a newspaper" dates from 1785.
Example
- 1. Goldman declined to comment for this column .
- 2. The left column shows the available filter types .
- 3. The right-hand column shows the latest messages from social networking sites .
- 4. Most jews see the arab minority as a potential fifth column .
- 5. I was able to start a 1989 suburban after dismantling the steering column with the screwdriver .