- the base that a column, statue, etc. rests on
- a pedestal basin (= a washbasin supported by a column)
- I replaced the vase carefully on its pedestal.
- The statue stands on a low marble pedestal.
Word Originmid 16th cent.: from French piédestal, from Italian piedestallo, from piè ‘foot’ (from Latin pes, ped-, which later influenced the spelling) + di ‘of’ + stallo ‘stall’.
Idioms
See pedestal in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryknock somebody off their pedestal/perch
- to make somebody lose their position as somebody/something successful or admired
- A lot of teams are looking to knock us off our pedestal.
to put/place somebody on a pedestal
- to admire somebody so much that you do not see their faults
Check pronunciation:
pedestal