column.

An upright structural support, often cylindrical, that carries part of a building above it.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• stone column
• slender column
• row of columns

On the page

She hid the broken vase behind a column in the entrance hall.

Four concrete columns supported the unfinished upper floor.

Sunlight moved slowly around the marble column beside his desk.

Usage notes

Primary category: architecture. May be decorative rather than structural; classical columns have distinctive bases and capitals. Count noun: columns.