totem
[toh-tuh m]
- a natural object or an animate being, as an animal or bird, assumed as the emblem of a clan, family, or group.
- an object or natural phenomenon with which a family or sib considers itself closely related.
- a representation of such an object serving as the distinctive mark of the clan or group.
- anything serving as a distinctive, often venerated, emblem or symbol.
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Origin of totem
1750–60, Americanism; < Ojibwa ninto·te·m my totem, oto·te·man his totem (probably orig. my clan-village-mate, derivative of stem o·te·- dwell in or as a village; compare o·te·na village)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for totemic
Contemporary Examples
Diversity is largely accepted and encouraged, but lacks the totemic significance assigned to it by boomer activists.
Maybe it's the sheer volume of scandals on the landscape today, robbing any one of its totemic power to shock and dismay voters.
Offscreen, he is the Nascar set's totemic badass, the God-fearing patriot who walks the walk.
MOCA traditionally involves a totemic artist with these events.
Historical Examples
On these is a painted model of the totemic animals of the deceased.
The Dance Festivals of the Alaskan EskimoErnest William Hawkes
Then, just like the other totemic tribes, they feigned to be of the blood and lineage of the sun.
Myth, Ritual, and Religion, Vol. 1Andrew Lang
That our British ancestors possessed a totemic system is undoubted.
The Myths of the North American IndiansLewis Spence
But even in its beginnings the totemic age transcends these conditions.
Elements of Folk PsychologyWilhelm Wundt
Coincident with this development, totemic ideas and customs disappear.
Elements of Folk PsychologyWilhelm Wundt
totem
- (in some societies, esp among North American Indians) an object, species of animal or plant, or natural phenomenon symbolizing a clan, family, etc, often having ritual associations
- a representation of such an object
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Word Origin
C18: from Ojibwa nintōtēm mark of my family
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for totemic
totem
n.
animal or natural object considered as the emblem of a family or clan, 1760, from Algonquian (probably Ojibwa) odoodeman "his sibling kin, his group or family," hence, "his family mark;" also attested in French c.1600 in form aoutem among the Micmacs or other Indians of Nova Scotia. Totem pole is 1808, in reference to west coast Canadian Indians.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
totem
An animal, plant, or other object in nature that has a special relationship to a person, family, or clan and serves as a sign for that person or group.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with totemic
totem
see low man on the totem pole.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.