PILLAR

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does pillar mean? 

• PILLAR (noun)
  The noun PILLAR has 5 senses:

1. a fundamental principle or practice

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

3. a prominent supporter

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

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

  Familiarity information: PILLAR used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PILLAR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fundamental principle or practice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

science eroded the pillars of superstition

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

principle; rule (a basic generalization that is accepted as true and that can be used as a basis for reasoning or conduct)

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

pillar of Islam ((Islam) one of the five religious obligations accepted by all Muslims)

Sense 2

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 ("pillar" 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 "pillar"):

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)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A prominent supporter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

mainstay; pillar

Context example:

he is a pillar of the community

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

admirer; booster; champion; friend; protagonist; supporter (a person who backs a politician or a team etc.)

Sense 4

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 ("pillar" 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 "pillar"):

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 5

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 ("pillar" is a kind of...):

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

Meronyms (parts of "pillar"):

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 "pillar"):

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 ("pillar" is a part of...):

temple (an edifice devoted to special or exalted purposes)

 Context examples 

Mrs. Strong opened the window, and went out into the verandah, where she stood leaning against a pillar.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I went myself at the summons, and found a small man crouching against the pillars of the portico.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The next thing he demanded was one of the hollow iron pillars; by which he meant my pocket pistols.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Iron gates between granite pillars showed me where to enter, and passing through them, I found myself at once in the twilight of close-ranked trees.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

No matter when your birthday happens to fall, the actions you are taking now to stabilize your future will form the pillars of your life.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

There’s Hamilton, for example, the quiet, pale-faced man who is learning against the pillar.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Paired small tissue masses located on opposite sides of the oropharynx between the faucial pillars.

(Palatine Tonsil, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

A flattened cell that rests on the tympanic lip of the spiral lamina (inner pillar cell) and on the basilar membrane (outer pillar cell), thereby forming the tunnel of the Organ of Corti.

(Pillar Cell, NCI Thesaurus)

Stalagmites are cave pillars made largely of calcium carbonate or limestone, in association with trace elements such as magnesium, that is precipitated by rainwater.

(Cave stalagmites reveal India’s rainfall secrets, SciDev.Net)

But the pillar was composed of both the day and the night-guiding, for the fire was in the red eye, which at the thought got a new fascination for me; till, as I looked, the fire divided, and seemed to shine on me through the fog like two red eyes, such as Lucy told me of in her momentary mental wandering when, on the cliff, the dying sunlight struck the windows of St. Mary's Church.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)