Word.ws English Dictionary

5th column

5th column is the alternative form of fifth column.

Meaning of fifth column

Noun

fifth column (plural fifth columns)

  1. A group of people which clandestinely undermines a larger group, such as a nation, to which it is expected to be loyal.
    • The rebels, who in November 1936 had fought to enter and failed, walked in yesterday as troops of the generally recognised Spanish Government, and not a shot was fired at them. The supporters of Franco in the city, the “fifth column” he once spoke of, had been waiting for this moment for more than...1939 March 29, “Madrid gives itself up to Franco”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see fifth, column.

Forms of 5th column

plural5th columns

Questions about 5th column

What is 5th column the alternative form of?
5th column is the alternative form of fifth column.

Words near 5th column in the dictionary

  1. 5O
  2. 5s
  3. 5th
  4. 5th Amendment
  5. 5th Cir.
  6. 5th column
  7. 5th columns
  8. 5th day fits
  9. 5th grade
  10. 5th grader
  11. 5th graders

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 5th column (page history and authors); fifth column (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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