dais
Americannoun
-
daises
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dais
1225–75; Middle English deis < Anglo-French ( Old French dois ) < Latin discus quoit; see discus
Explanation
A speaker stands on a dais, or a platform, when giving a presentation. If you were speaking at the Coffee Lovers of America's conference, you'd step onto the dais so the audience could see you over their enormous cups o' joe. Dais comes to us from the Old French word deis, which was originally pronounced with only one syllable — more like days than the current day-us. If you take a course in a lecture hall, your professor will need to stand on the dais so everyone can see her better.
Vocabulary lists containing dais
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The president was sitting on the dais in a cavernous ballroom when several distant bangs were heard around 8:30 p.m.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
When Mullin walked to the dais, he shook only one hand: O'Brien's.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
The CFTC’s Acting Chair Caroline Pham followed Atkins to the dais, and proudly reeled off her successes at streamlining and updating her agency.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2025
He wanted Kershaw’s wife, Ellen, and their four kids in front of the pitcher right when he sat down at the dais at Dodger Stadium.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2025
She glanced over my shoulder, up at the empty dais, then back at me.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
It's a pretty neat trick for a plant, but also pretty baffling to botanists, who have been intrigued by beetle daises for centuries.
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2023
But the truth has a way of seeping out, sometimes in unlikely places, like the daises of presidential libraries.
From New York Times ● Jun. 8, 2022
This time, senators were spread out on two sets of daises.
From Fox News ● May 5, 2020
After the first break, most of the senators who had already asked questions elected not to return, and the entire bottom row of daises was entirely empty for much of the remaining time.
From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2018
He would stride the daises and the stages with his voice strong and clear, unafraid to speak the language like a Puritan and like a Chinaman and like every boat person in between.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
