Illustration of totem pole
- totem pole 1
totem pole
noun
plural totem poles
1
: a pole or pillar carved and painted with a series of totemic symbols representing family lineage and often mythical or historical incidents and erected by Indigenous peoples of the northwest coast of North America
2
: an order of rank : hierarchy
the people at the bottom/top of the totem pole
As low man on the totem pole [=the least important or least powerful person] I had to clean out the grease trap …—
David Brooks
David Brooks
Examples of totem pole in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Surrounded by the Tongass National Forest, the city preserves the traditions of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples through towering cedar totem poles that tell stories of family lineage and legend.
—Alia Beard Rau, USA Today, 10 June 2026
Tremble, Sanders and Evans are the first three guys on the tight end totem pole.
—Charlotte Observer, 9 June 2026
Burckhardt, a Minnesota native who was promoted to Denver’s assistant general manager last offseason, begun his NFL career working his way up the totem pole for 13 seasons in Minnesota’s scouting department.
—Luca Evans, Denver Post, 13 May 2026
The term totem pole seems to have been coined around the time that one of these posts was displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, likely commissioned from a Haida carver named Dwight Wallace and brought all the way from Alaska.
—Glenn Adamson, Artforum, 2 May 2026
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Alia Beard Rau, USA Today, 10 June 2026
Tremble, Sanders and Evans are the first three guys on the tight end totem pole.
—Charlotte Observer, 9 June 2026
Burckhardt, a Minnesota native who was promoted to Denver’s assistant general manager last offseason, begun his NFL career working his way up the totem pole for 13 seasons in Minnesota’s scouting department.
—Luca Evans, Denver Post, 13 May 2026
The term totem pole seems to have been coined around the time that one of these posts was displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, likely commissioned from a Haida carver named Dwight Wallace and brought all the way from Alaska.
—Glenn Adamson, Artforum, 2 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for totem pole
Cite this Entry
“Totem pole.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/totem%20pole. Accessed 10 Jun. 2026.
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