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Definition of "totem pole" [to•tem pole]

  • A post carved and painted with a series of family or clan crests or with figures representing mythic beings and erected usually before a dwelling, as among certain Native American peoples of the northwest coast of North America. (noun)
  • Slang A hierarchy: low on the totem pole. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "totem pole" in a sentence
  • "A wigwam of driftwood spars lashed to the central totem pole was encircled by a pattern of grey sticks laid out like basketwork and punctuated by such objects as the flip-flop sandals and trainers that seem perpetually to ride the waves, Coke cans, garish cork or plastic lobster-pot buoys and the armoured white carapaces of spider crabs that abound on this beach."