columns

Meanings

1. 1nounplural

   Vertical pillars that support a building or stand as a monument.

   Grammar: The plural of 'column'; use it with plural verbs: the columns stand.

   Patterns

   • a row of columns
   • stone columns

   The old temple still has eight marble columns standing.

   Workers repaired the columns holding up the roof.

   Visitors walked between the tall columns of the entrance hall.

2. 2nounplural

   Vertical sections of printed text or data arranged side by side.

   Grammar: Countable; singular is 'column', as in 'the left column'.

   Patterns

   • in the columns
   • two columns of text
   • add a column

   The table has five columns and twenty rows.

   She wrote the numbers neatly in separate columns.

   Please check the figures in the last two columns.

3. 3nounplural

   Regular pieces of writing by a particular journalist in a newspaper.

   Grammar: Countable; often used with a possessive: her columns, his columns.

   Patterns

   • write columns
   • a newspaper's columns
   • columns about something

   He writes weekly columns about food and travel.

   Her columns on city life are very popular.

   The paper prints his columns every Sunday.

Word forms

Common combinations

a row of columns

A row of columns runs along the front of the building.

newspaper columns

He reads the newspaper columns before work.

in columns

Write the answers in columns, not in a single line.

stone columns

The stone columns have stood there for centuries.

add a column

You can add a column to the table in the software.

Synonyms and how they differ

pillars

Very close in meaning for buildings, but 'pillars' is the everyday word while 'columns' often suggests classical or decorative architecture.

sections

Works for parts of a page or table, but 'sections' can be any shape, whereas 'columns' are always vertical.

Opposites

Word family

column noun

One vertical pillar or one vertical section of text.

columnist noun

A journalist who writes a regular column.

columnar adjective

Shaped like a column or arranged in columns.

Commonly confused: columns or colons?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “columns”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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