COLUMN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does column mean? 

• COLUMN (noun)
  The noun COLUMN has 9 senses:

1. a line of units following one after another

2. 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

3. a vertical array of numbers or other information

4. anything that approximates the shape of a column or tower

5. an article giving opinions or perspectives

6. a vertical cylindrical structure standing alone and not supporting anything (such as a monument)

7. (architecture) a tall vertical cylindrical structure standing upright and used to support a structure

8. a page or text that is vertically divided

9. any tubular or pillar-like supporting structure in the body

  Familiarity information: COLUMN used as a noun is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COLUMN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A line of units following one after another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("column" is a kind of...):

file; Indian file; single file (a line of persons or things ranged one behind the other)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

chromatography column; column

Hypernyms ("column" is a kind of...):

tube; tubing (conduit consisting of a long hollow object (usually cylindrical) used to hold and conduct objects or liquids or gases)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A vertical array of numbers or other information

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

he added a column of numbers

Hypernyms ("column" is a kind of...):

array (an orderly arrangement)

Holonyms ("column" is a member of...):

table; tabular array (a set of data arranged in rows and columns)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Anything that approximates the shape of a column or tower

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

column; pillar; tower

Context example:

a thin pillar of smoke betrayed their campsite

Hypernyms ("column" is a kind of...):

form; shape (the spatial arrangement of something as distinct from its substance)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "column"):

columella (a small column (or structure resembling a column) that is a part of a plant or animal)

hoodoo ((geology) a column of weathered and unusually shaped rock)

Derivation:

columnar (having the form of a column)

Sense 5

Meaning:

An article giving opinions or perspectives

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

column; editorial; newspaper column

Hypernyms ("column" is a kind of...):

article (nonfictional prose forming an independent part of a publication)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "column"):

agony column (a newspaper column devoted to personal problems)

Holonyms ("column" is a part of...):

newspaper; paper (a daily or weekly publication on folded sheets; contains news and articles and advertisements)

Derivation:

columnist (a journalist who writes editorials)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A vertical cylindrical structure standing alone and not supporting anything (such as a monument)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

column; pillar

Hypernyms ("column" is a kind of...):

construction; structure (a thing constructed; a complex entity constructed of many parts)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "column"):

obelisk (a stone pillar having a rectangular cross section tapering towards a pyramidal top)

totem pole (a tribal emblem consisting of a pillar carved and painted with totemic figures; erected by Indian tribes of the northwest Pacific coast)

Sense 7

Meaning:

(architecture) a tall vertical cylindrical structure standing upright and used to support a structure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

column; pillar

Hypernyms ("column" is a kind of...):

upright; vertical (a vertical structural member as a post or stake)

Meronyms (parts of "column"):

cap; capital; chapiter (the upper part of a column that supports the entablature)

footstall; pedestal; plinth (an architectural support or base (as for a column or statue))

scape; shaft ((architecture) upright consisting of the vertical part of a column)

entasis (a slight convexity in the shaft of a column; compensates for the illusion of concavity that viewers experience when the sides are perfectly straight)

Domain category:

architecture (the discipline dealing with the principles of design and construction and ornamentation of fine buildings)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "column"):

atlas; telamon (a figure of a man used as a supporting column)

caryatid (a supporting column carved in the shape of a person)

newel (the central pillar of a circular staircase)

pilaster (a rectangular column that usually projects about a third of its width from the wall to which it is attached)

pile; piling; spile; stilt (a column of wood or steel or concrete that is driven into the ground to provide support for a structure)

support column (a column that supports a heavy weight)

Holonyms ("column" is a part of...):

temple (an edifice devoted to special or exalted purposes)

Derivation:

columnar (characterized by columns)

Sense 8

Meaning:

A page or text that is vertically divided

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

the bookkeeper used pages that were divided into columns

Hypernyms ("column" is a kind of...):

text; textual matter (the words of something written)

Sense 9

Meaning:

Any tubular or pillar-like supporting structure in the body

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("column" is a kind of...):

skeletal structure (any structure created by the skeleton of an organism)

 Context examples 

A matrix with rows and columns labeled by graph vertices, with a 1 or 0 in position (vi,vj) according to whether vi and vj are adjacent or not.

(Adjacency Matrix, NCI Thesaurus)

It might be safely viewed with all its appendages of prosperity and beauty, its rich pastures, spreading flocks, orchard in blossom, and light column of smoke ascending.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The assessment of the functionality of the brain, spinal column, and nerves.

(Neurologic Examination, NCI Thesaurus)

Conversely, the vascular columns of wood might be useful in bone engineering due to their relative strength and geometries, the authors wrote.

(Human Heart Cells Grown on Spinach Leaves, VOA News)

A ligament running the length of the anterior surface of the spinal column and thereby interconnects all the vertebral bodies.

(Anterior Longitudinal Ligament, NCI Thesaurus)

The lateral white column of the spinal cord between the lines of exit and entrance of the anterior and posterior nerve roots.

(Antero-Lateral Column, NCI Thesaurus)

These nerves originate in the spinal column and innervate the shoulder, arm and hand.

(Brachial Plexus Injury, NCI Thesaurus)

Also called spinal column, spine, and vertebral column.

(Backbone, NCI Dictionary)

The part of the skeleton that includes the skull and spinal column and sternum and ribs.

(Axial Skeleton, NCI Thesaurus)

Looking into the ancient past, an early change in mammals' spinal columns was an important first step in their evolution.

(What makes a mammal a mammal? Our spine, say scientists, National Science Foundation)