Definition of COLUMN

column

Plural: columns

Noun

  • A vertical cylindrical support or a vertical section of text or data.
  • a line of 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 vertical array of numbers or other information
    • "he added a column of numbers"
  • anything that approximates the shape of a column or tower
    • "the test tube held a column of white powder"
  • an article giving opinions or perspectives
  • a vertical cylindrical structure standing alone and not supporting anything (such as a monument)
  • (architecture) a tall vertical cylindrical structure standing upright and used to support a structure
  • a page or text that is vertically divided
    • "the newspaper devoted several columns to the subject"
    • "the bookkeeper used pages that were divided into columns"
  • any tubular or pillar-like supporting structure in the body
  • A solid upright structure designed usually to support a larger structure above it, such as a roof or horizontal beam, but sometimes for decoration.
  • A vertical line of entries in a table, usually read from top to bottom.
  • A body of troops or army vehicles, usually strung out along a road.
  • A body of text meant to be read line by line, especially in printed material that has multiple adjacent such on a single page.
  • A unit of width, especially of advertisements, in a periodical, equivalent to the width of a usual column of text.
  • A recurring feature in a periodical, especially an opinion piece, especially by a single author or small rotating group of authors, or on a single theme.
  • Something having similar vertical form or structure to the things mentioned above, such as a spinal column.
  • The gynostemium
  • An instrument used to separate the different components of a liquid or to purify chemical compounds.

Examples

  • Each column inch costs $300 a week; this ad is four columns by three inches, so will run $3600 a week.
  • His initial foray into print media was as the author of a weekly column in his elementary-school newspaper.
  • It was too hard to read the text across the whole page, so I split it into two columns.
  • The letters formed a perfect COLUMN on the board, spelling out a high-scoring word.

Origin / Etymology

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”).

Synonyms

chromatography column, editorial, newspaper column, pillar, tower, post, sile

Antonyms

row

Scrabble Score: 10

column: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
column: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
column: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 15

column: valid Words With Friends Word