totem pole

American  

noun

1. a pole or post carved and painted with totemic figures, erected by Indians of the northwest coast of North America, especially in front of their houses.

2. a hierarchical system.

   the bureaucratic totem pole.

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totem pole British  

noun

1. a pole carved or painted with totemic figures set up by certain North American Indians, esp those of the NW Pacific coast, within a village as a tribal symbol or, sometimes, in memory of a dead person

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totem pole Cultural  

1. Among some Native Americans, a pole on which totems are carved. The totem pole usually stands in front of a house or shelter.

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A totem pole is thought of figuratively as a symbol (see also symbol) of a hierarchy: “Where does she stand on the totem pole?”

Etymology

Origin of totem pole

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

If they made it to New York or London, they would start over as an analyst, at the bottom of the totem pole.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 5, 2026

“I was a skinny freshman — a low man on the totem pole — and this made me feel like a rebel.’

From New York Times • May 1, 2024

It is the first totem pole to be returned from a British museum to an indigenous community - a potentially precedent-setting moment in the broader move towards museum repatriation.

From BBC • Oct. 1, 2023

“I started pretty low on the totem pole at Purdue and through just different circumstances was able to rise up the depth chart,” O’Connell said.

From Washington Times • Aug. 10, 2023

She could not find, between herself and the African statuette, or totem pole, on which he gazed with such melancholy wonder, any point of contact.

From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin