PEDESTAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pedestal mean? 

• PEDESTAL (noun)
  The noun PEDESTAL has 3 senses:

1. a support or foundation

2. a position of great esteem (and supposed superiority)

3. an architectural support or base (as for a column or statue)

  Familiarity information: PEDESTAL used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PEDESTAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A support or foundation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

base; pedestal; stand

Context example:

the base of the lamp

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

support (any device that bears the weight of another thing)

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

brass monkey (a metal stand that formerly held cannon balls on sailing ships)

staddle (a base or platform on which hay or corn is stacked)

trivet (a stand with short feet used under a hot dish on a table)

trivet (a three-legged metal stand for supporting a cooking vessel in a hearth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A position of great esteem (and supposed superiority)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

they put him on a pedestal

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

position; status (the relative position or standing of things or especially persons in a society)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An architectural support or base (as for a column or statue)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

footstall; pedestal; plinth

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

support (supporting structure that holds up or provides a foundation)

Meronyms (parts of "pedestal"):

dado (the section of a pedestal between the base and the surbase)

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

socle (a plain plinth that supports a wall)

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

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

 Context examples 

So, in his fancy, may he see himself sometimes, gracing the vacant pedestal in Trafalgar Square, and adding one more to the horrors of the London streets.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

All was quiet with him, save that a long inscription had appeared that morning upon the pedestal of the sundial.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

All were strangely shaped, and the Spy-glass, which was by three or four hundred feet the tallest on the island, was likewise the strangest in configuration, running up sheer from almost every side and then suddenly cut off at the top like a pedestal to put a statue on.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“Tom” was evidently the idol of her life; never to be shaken on his pedestal by any commotion; always to be believed in, and done homage to with the whole faith of her heart, come what might.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There was I, then, mounted aloft; I, who had said I could not bear the shame of standing on my natural feet in the middle of the room, was now exposed to general view on a pedestal of infamy.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

To my amazement he stooped, picked her up, and placed her sitting upon a high pedestal of black marble in the angle of the hall.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It stood on a small pedestal table with an old dressing-gown of Holmes’s so draped round it that the illusion from the street was absolutely perfect.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

'Strange story of high life'—you felt fairly high on that pedestal, did you not?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)