Word.ws English Dictionary

high on the totem pole

high on the totem pole adjective: accorded relatively high importance.

Adjective

high on the totem pole (comparative higher on the totem pole, superlative highest on the totem pole)

  1. (idiomatic, offensive, possibly) Accorded relatively high importance.

Antonyms of high on the totem pole

Forms of high on the totem pole

comparativehigher on the totem pole
superlativehighest on the totem pole

Origin of high on the totem pole

Derived from totem poles, traditional sculptures of wood made by American Indians, usually with several figures carved one above the other. The vertical order was mistakenly perceived by the non-Indians to correspond with the figures' rank of importance.

Questions about high on the totem pole

What does high on the totem pole mean?
High on the totem pole means accorded relatively high importance.
What part of speech is high on the totem pole?
High on the totem pole is an adjective.

Words near high on the totem pole in the dictionary

  1. high off the hog
  2. high old time
  3. high on life
  4. high on one's own supply
  5. high on the hog
  6. high on the totem pole
  7. High Ongar
  8. High Orchard
  9. high order bit
  10. high order bits
  11. high pad

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: high on the totem pole (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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