HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY
To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.
Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.
THE USAGE PANEL
The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP
The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG
The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.
INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?
Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com
col·umn  (kŏləm)
Share:
Tweet n. 1. Architecture a. A vertical structure usually consisting of a base, a cylindrical shaft, and a capital, used as a support or standing alone as a monument. b. Any slender vertical support, as of steel or reinforced concrete. 2. Something resembling an architectural column in form or function: a column of mercury in a thermometer. 3. a. One of two or more vertical sections of text lying side by side in a document and separated by a rule or a blank space. b. An arrangement of numbers in a single vertical line. 4. A feature article that appears regularly in a publication, such as a newspaper. 5. A formation, as of troops or vehicles, in which all elements follow one behind the other. 6. Botany A columnlike structure, especially one formed by the union of a stamen and the style in an orchid flower, or one formed by the united staminal filaments in flowers such as those of the hibiscus or mallow. 7. Anatomy Any of various tubular or pillarlike supporting structures in the body, each generally having a single tissue origin and function: the vertebral column. [Middle English columpne, columne, ultimately (partially via Old French columpne), from Latin columna; see kel-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] columned (kŏləmd) adj.  (click for a larger image) columnIonic order column |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
