tentpole
Americannoun
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tentpoles
plural
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one of the poles used to hold up a tent.
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something which is central and supports a project, idea, campaign, company, etc.
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a piece of media, particularly a big-budget movie, intended by a studio to make enough profit to finance less successful projects.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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 AI build-out has emerged as one of the U.S. economy’s steadfast sources of growth, a tentpole for the global capital markets and the primary battleground in America’s ongoing technology arms race with China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
He positions himself as a guy who wants to have a good time and who throws tentpole pop-culture events.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
Importantly, the quarter appears to be benefiting from multiple films working simultaneously across genres and demographics, creating a healthier recovery dynamic than one driven by a small number of tentpole releases.
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
But shouldering a wobbly, expensive summer tentpole is a risk — just ask Sam Worthington or Taylor Kitsch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
Denis stepped down from the bench; tied insecurely and crookedly to the tentpole, the Union Jack hung limp on the windless air.
From Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley
As Fennell trots along Brontë’s tentpoles, she dusts the narrative between these plot points with sensational set pieces and eye-popping costumes.
From Salon ● Feb. 14, 2026
These events will remain the game's "tentpoles", to use the latest corporate vernacular.
From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2025
His 17-year tenure also saw the addition of four franchises, labor peace and a variety of structural changes that have since emerged as tentpoles of the sport.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2025
But in an age of franchise fatigue, ironic tentpoles and streaming saturation, the earnest, four-quadrant spectacle had started to feel like a relic — until “Maverick” reminded Hollywood how potent that formula could still be.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2025
Because of the heavily wooded country they were to go through, Tally had not bothered to carry any tentpoles.
From Girl Scouts in the Rockies by Lillian Elizabeth Roy
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.
