pedestal

American  

[ped-uh-stl] / ˈpɛd ə stl /

noun

• pedestals
  plural

1. an architectural support for a column, statue, vase, or the like.

2. a supporting structure or piece; base.

3. Furniture.

   1. a support for a desk, consisting of a boxlike frame containing drawers one above the other.

   2. a columnar support for a tabletop.

4. Building Trades. a bulge cast at the bottom of a concrete pile.

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verb (used with object)

pedestaled, pedestaling, pedestalled, pedestalling

1. to put on or supply with a pedestal.

idioms

1. set / put on a pedestal, to glorify; idealize.

   When we first became engaged each of us set the other on a pedestal.

pedestal British  

/ ˈpɛdɪstəl /

noun

1. a base that supports a column, statue, etc, as used in classical architecture

2. a position of eminence or supposed superiority (esp in the phrases place, put, or set on a pedestal )

3. 1. either of a pair of sets of drawers used as supports for a writing surface

   2. ( as modifier )

      a pedestal desk

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pedestal More Idioms  

1. see on a pedestal.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unpedestal
  verb (used with object)

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pedestals
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pedestal

1555–65; alteration of Middle French piedestal < Italian piedestallo, variant of piedistallo literally, foot of stall. See ped- ², de, stall ¹

Explanation

A pedestal is a base or foundation that supports something like a statue or work of art. Think of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. where a statue of Lincoln sitting in a chair is raised up on a huge pedestal. Think of the physical stand or support when you use pedestal figuratively to mean a place of superiority. If you put someone on a pedestal, you honor that person or place him or her above you, as you might a piece of valued art. If you want to knock someone off his or her pedestal, you think that person is too arrogant and you want to do something to humble him or her.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pedestal pedestals pedestaled pedestalled

Where the MT1 puts small on a pedestal, the Slate Truck worships simple.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026

Don Colossus stands proud atop a stone pedestal, keeping vigil over a small commemorative plaque.

From Slate ● Jun. 2, 2026

But some in the industry would argue that, despite their cultural and economic contributions, games aren't placed on the same pedestal as other creative sectors.

From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026

At Amarapura's Nagayon Pagoda, a Buddha statue reduced to just two legs and hands on a pedestal has been fully restored, looking out with a serene gaze.

From Barron's ● Mar. 26, 2026

There’s a white guard standing in front of the judge’s pedestal.

From "Black Brother, Black Brother" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Some artificial-intelligence stocks that got knocked off their pedestals, in part due to a bruising July selloff, now represent attractive opportunities for investors, according to BofA analysts.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

“They are treated as gods and goddesses and put on pedestals for searching for and ‘representing’ truth and knowledge and recognizing and being proud of who they are and where they come from.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025

Specifically, Parisi looked at certain pedestals and determined the amount of heating and fueling required to achieve it given a particular plasma shape.

From Science Daily ● May 28, 2024

It has already spend millions of pounds on the west London crossing since microfractures were discovered in its pedestals in 2019.

From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2024

His memory was short; already human beings were back on their rightful pedestals, cornucopias of dog food in their hands.

From "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford

But to Back Bay he is an idol, firmly pedestaled.

From Time Magazine Archive

He flicked a whip at the cageful of pedestaled lions & tigers, took the chance of turning his back on them, jumped into the fight.

From Time Magazine Archive

The trainer swaggered up to a pedestaled tiger, thrust the chair at its open jaws.

From Time Magazine Archive

Coal followed one of the curves to the closest pedestaled mirror.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

A young Irishman, primed for the occasion, jumped to his feet with an impassioned harangue that pedestaled Ridgway as the Washington of the West.

From Ridgway of Montana (Story of To-Day, in Which the Hero Is Also the Villain) by William MacLeod Raine

Why comes temptation but for man to meet And master and make crouch beneath his foot, And so be pedestalled in triumph?

From An Introduction to the Study of Browning by Arthur Symons

And thou shalt see her standing straight and pale, High pedestalled on some rook-haunted tower: She has two earrings, silver and vermeil, And eyes like stars that shine in sunset hour.

From Forty-Two Poems by James Elroy Flecker

Now, in a trice, he was not only admitted to comradeship, but patently valued as something rare and sacred to be acclaimed and pedestalled.

From Penrod by Booth Tarkington

A body less firmly pedestalled upon powerful legs and scoop-shovel feet would have gone down.

From The Devil's Asteroid by Manly Wade Wellman

Rather turn Whither, upon the upland, pedestalled Into the broad day-splendour, whom discern These eyes but thee, supreme one, rightly called Moon-maid in heaven above and, here below, Earth's huntress-queen?

From An Introduction to the Study of Browning by Arthur Symons

Related Words

• podium