tripod

American  

[trahy-pod] / ˈtraɪ pɒd /

noun

• tripods
  plural

1. a stool, table, pedestal, etc., with three legs.

2. a three-legged stand or support, as for a camera or telescope.

3. the oracular seat of the priestess of Apollo at Delphi.

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tripod British  

/ ˈtraɪpɒd /

noun

1. an adjustable and usually collapsible three-legged stand to which a camera, etc, can be attached to hold it steady

2. a stand or table having three legs

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• tripodal
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tripods
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tripod

1595–1605; < Latin tripod- (stem of tripūs ) < Greek tripod- (stem of trípous ) originally, three-footed. See tri-, -pod

Explanation

A tripod is a three-legged support for a camera. Once you try using a tripod for taking photographs, your sharp, beautiful pictures might make it hard to do without it. A tripod is a stand with three legs that holds a camera. Photographers and filmmakers use a tripod when they want the camera to be held completely still, without the slight bit of shaking that their hands might cause. Tripod comes from the Greek tripodos, "three-legged stool," made up of tri, or "three," plus podos, "foot." The word tripod was used in the past to mean anything with three legs, including vessels, stools, or tables.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tripod tripods

He sits in the end zone and has a camera that goes up so high on a tripod that it could be waving a flag.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026

He preferred an easygoing static tripod shot — a point Adrian contested, as is shown in the film.

From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026

I tested it with my favorite accessory, Moft’s wallet tripod stand, which worked well.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 2026

As night fell on Tucson, a man in a reflector jacket parked his truck on the same hill where Williams held court, and deployed a tripod.

From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2026

Then said Arete to her maids: “The tripod: stand the great tripod legs about the fire.”

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

Along the route, families arrive with lawn chairs, tents and tripods.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

“Once in a Lifetime” is part video display and part sculpture, made of tripods, toothpicks, lights, cardboard boxes and projectors that flicker images on the gallery walls.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 2, 2026

Now more and more media tripods are going up.

From BBC ● Jan. 1, 2026

Even simpler: Fashion tripods of brush, then give the young plants a little help with a piece of string or two in the early weeks, to empower their ascent.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 17, 2024

In them he set up his lights, his tripods, and his various machines.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende