- a pole carved or painted with totemic figures set up by certain Native Americans, esp those of the NW Pacific coast, within a village as a tribal symbol or, sometimes, in memory of a dead person
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
ˈto•tem ˌpole, n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Anthropologya pole carved and painted with totems, built by Native Americans of the NW coast of North America.
to′tem pole′,
- a pole or post carved and painted with totemic figures, erected by Indians of the northwest coast of North America, esp. in front of their houses.
- a hierarchical system:the bureaucratic totem pole.
- 1875–80
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
totem pole n
'totem pole' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):