How to Use totem pole in a Sentence
totem pole
noun-
The low man on the totem pole or the top guy, there’s none of that with us.
—Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2019
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The third digit seems to be how high a chip sits on the totem pole in terms of speed.
—Sean Hollister, The Verge, 1 Aug. 2019
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Sacrificing guys at the low end of the totem pole for the guys at the top.
—Kevin Paul Dupont, BostonGlobe.com, 20 July 2019
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This summer will be the first time the group has made and moved such a large totem pole.
—Washington Post, 19 June 2021
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Climbing to the top of the ugliest dog totem pole is no easy feat.
—Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 25 June 2019
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Her nurse asked me to rank my pain on a totem pole of emojis.
—WIRED, 9 Feb. 2023
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The totem pole once stood in the late Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens’ office.
—Riley Rogerson, Anchorage Daily News, 1 Mar. 2023
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Women — all women, from the handmaids on the bottom of the totem pole to the Wives at the top — pay the price.
—Elena Nicolaou, refinery29.com, 6 June 2019
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In a movie centered on the marginalized, Yo-Yo is the lowest on the totem pole.
—Helena Andrews-Dyer, Washington Post, 14 July 2023
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Elvis Peguero, the next reliever on the totem pole, had pitched in five of six days.
—Journal Sentinel, 30 June 2023
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The totem pole has been on loan to the institution since 2017.
—Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 4 Oct. 2019
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Margaret thrills to the uncertainty of the moment—and to the idea of being pushed from the top of the totem pole.
—Julie Miller, HWD, 8 June 2018
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But finding a spot for the enormous totem pole in a city filled with red tape has been tough.
—Washington Post, 28 Mar. 2021
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Even people far down the Twitter totem pole have worked that out.
—Felix Salmon, WIRED, 5 June 2018
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But that one opinion can be just as wrong as that of the lowest person on the totem pole.
—David Murphy, Philly.com, 20 June 2018
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But sound might be last on the totem pole, so people now, in the last two years, listen with their eyes.
—Mark Elibert, Billboard, 14 Feb. 2022
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Newer are small totem poles and gnomes that wear a Cheesehead wedge.
—Mary Bergin, chicagotribune.com, 2 Dec. 2019
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The House of Tears Carvers' first totem pole journey took place after the 9/11 attacks.
—Harmeet Kaur, CNN, 11 July 2021
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This meme is a totem pole for Nazi youth in training, the standings in a pennant race of killers.
—Paul Solotaroff, Rolling Stone, 30 Jan. 2022
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For a player already low on the totem pole, injuries lead to pink slips.
—Zak Keefer, Indianapolis Star, 24 Sep. 2017
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In groups with alpha males, monkeys lower on the totem pole may have to sneak around to mate.
—Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 4 Aug. 2015
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The totem pole will then be returned to its original site in South Bentinck.
—Alaa Elassar, CNN, 19 Feb. 2023
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The totem pole has been there since 1999 as a way to continue telling the Tlingit story.
—Tess Williams, Anchorage Daily News, 29 Jan. 2021
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Kake makes claim to having the world’s largest totem pole carved from a single tree – a Sitka spruce.
—Dan Fellner, The Arizona Republic, 26 Aug. 2022
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Motown was one of those things that whoever had the hit record was on top of the totem pole, let’s put it that way.
—Seth Abramovitch, Billboard, 18 Jan. 2021
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At this point, especially me, guys are fed up with being at the bottom of the totem pole in the NFL.
—Ryan O’Halloran, The Denver Post, 8 Sep. 2019
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The Nuxalk Nation's totem pole was stolen and sold to a museum.
—Zoe Sottile, CNN, 3 Mar. 2023
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There was a dress, this beautiful column, that was a totem pole.
—Chadd Scott, Forbes, 26 Aug. 2022
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Not to mention, more than 80 standing totem poles are scattered around Ketchikan, and the number continues to grow.
—Laura Kiniry, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 June 2023
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In one canvas, Michael Brophy’s Beaver Trade, a sky of muted blues, ashy purples and flamingo pinks is broken by a totem pole scarred with tendril-like footprints.
—Angelica Aboulhosn, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Aug. 2023
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'totem pole.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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