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

"Putting yourself on a pedestal is not going to help this conversation. Public trust is not something you're entitled to, you earn it. Actions have consequences."

From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026

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

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

Which was why I was standing on the pedestal in the tailoring room of my family’s clothing store, in nothing but my underpants and socks, waiting to get measured.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

The lower level of the Winners Gallery has cars on pedestals that are banked 9 degrees, 12 minutes—the same as the four banked turns of the racetrack.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026

These beautiful buildings acting as pedestals for some kind of ad space, you know?

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026

Further investigation by the SIT has revealed pilferage also from the pedestals and door frames and the court says that approximately 4.54kg gold has gone missing since 2019.

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2025

Fundamentally, the new model enhances our understanding of pedestals and brings scientists closer to achieving the greater goal of designing a fusion reactor that generates more power than it consumes.

From Science Daily ● May 28, 2024

Shelves and pedestals are everywhere, displaying glass jars inside which are power-ups of all kinds—scarlet gems and white marbles, rainbow-hued balls of fuzz and blue-striped cubes, black-and-white-checkered spheres, and clear, soap-like bubbles.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

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

From Time Magazine Archive

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

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

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

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

From Leaves of Life For Daily Inspiration by Steinmetz, Margaret Bird

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 Flecker, James Elroy

So he drove them out, and stood alone confronting "Statuesque Balaustion pedestalled On much disapprobation and mistake."

From Browning's Heroines by Armfield, Maxwell

It was Cromwell's mood, as one who, living under the eye of God, scorned the vapourings of pedestalled mortals.

From The Path of the King by Buchan, John

As we drove up to the porticoed front door, I observed in front of it, beside the tennis lawn, the black tool-house and the pedestalled sundial with which we had such strange associations.

From The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir

Tuscarora County was put through its paces for a gaping world; Clinton's Ditch—"well-spring of New York's commercial supremacy, gentlemen"—shown in rosiest apotheosis; the Empire State pedestalled imperially among the nations.

From The Henchman by Luther, Mark Lee

Related Words

• podium