Illustration of totem pole
- totem pole 1
totem pole
noun
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 Indian tribes of the northwest coast of North America
2
: an order of rank : hierarchy
Examples of totem pole in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Houston may have been at the bottom of the totem pole at the start of the year, but that reality has already left itself in the past.
—
Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 6 Oct. 2025
Theoretically speaking, if California were viewed as a nation, its economy ranks No. 4 on this vanity totem pole – just ahead of India ($4.187 trillion) and Japan ($4.186 trillion).
—Jonathan Lansner, Oc Register, 26 Sep. 2025
And over the past nine months, a team of judges has been measuring it, pinpointing the exact location of the wave’s base, then stacking images of Slebir’s crouched pose on top of each other like a totem pole up the face of the wave.
—Julia Prodis Sulek, Mercury News, 13 Sep. 2025
Job-hopping was once a surefire way of climbing the totem pole to higher salaries and bigger job titles.
—Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 11 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for totem pole
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Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 6 Oct. 2025
Theoretically speaking, if California were viewed as a nation, its economy ranks No. 4 on this vanity totem pole – just ahead of India ($4.187 trillion) and Japan ($4.186 trillion).
—Jonathan Lansner, Oc Register, 26 Sep. 2025
And over the past nine months, a team of judges has been measuring it, pinpointing the exact location of the wave’s base, then stacking images of Slebir’s crouched pose on top of each other like a totem pole up the face of the wave.
—Julia Prodis Sulek, Mercury News, 13 Sep. 2025
Job-hopping was once a surefire way of climbing the totem pole to higher salaries and bigger job titles.
—Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 11 Sep. 2025
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 18 Oct. 2025.
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