Column vs. Pier

A vertical structure usually consisting of a base, a cylindrical shaft, and a capital, used as a support or standing alone as a monument.

A platform extending from a shore over water and supported by piles or pillars, used to secure, protect, and provide access to ships or boats.

Any slender vertical support, as of steel or reinforced concrete.

Such a structure used predominantly for entertainment.

Something resembling an architectural column in form or function

A supporting structure at the junction of connecting spans of a bridge.

One of two or more vertical sections of text lying side by side in a document and separated by a rule or a blank space.

A pillar, generally rectangular in cross section, supporting an arch or roof.

An arrangement of numbers in a single vertical line.

The portion of a wall between windows, doors, or other openings.

A feature article that appears regularly in a publication, such as a newspaper.

A reinforcing structure that projects from a wall; a buttress.

A formation, as of troops or vehicles, in which all elements follow one behind the other.

A raised platform built from the shore out over water, supported on piles; used to secure, or provide access to shipping; a jetty.

(Botany)A columnlike structure, especially one formed by the union of a stamen and the style in an orchid flower, or one formed by the united staminal filaments in flowers such as those of the hibiscus or mallow.

A similar structure, especially at a seaside resort, used to provide entertainment.

(Anatomy)Any of various tubular or pillarlike supporting structures in the body, each generally having a single tissue origin and function

A structure supporting the junction between two spans of a bridge.

(architecture) A solid upright structure designed usually to support a larger structure above it, such as a roof or horizontal beam, but sometimes for decoration.

(architecture) A rectangular pillar, or similar structure, that supports an arch, wall or roof, or the hinges of a gate.

A vertical line of entries in a table, usually read from top to bottom.

Any detached mass of masonry, whether insulated or supporting one side of an arch or lintel, as of a bridge; the piece of wall between two openings.

A body of troops or army vehicles, usually strung out along a road.

A projecting wharf or landing place.

A body of text meant to be read line by line, especially in printed material that has multiple adjacent such on a single page.

A platform built out from the shore into the water and supported by piles; provides access to ships and boats

A unit of width, especially of advertisements, in a periodical, equivalent to the width of a usual column of text.

(architecture) a vertical supporting structure (as a portion of wall between two doors or windows)

(by extension) A recurring feature in a periodical, especially an opinion piece, especially by a single author or small rotating group of authors, or on a single theme.

A support for two adjacent bridge spans

Something having similar vertical form or structure to the things mentioned above, such as a spinal column.

(botany) The gynostemium

(chemistry) An object used to separate the different components of a liquid or to purify chemical compounds.

A kind of pillar; a cylindrical or polygonal support for a roof, ceiling, statue, etc., somewhat ornamented, and usually composed of base, shaft, and capital. See Order.

Anything resembling, in form or position, a column in architecture; an upright body or mass; a shaft or obelisk; as, a column of air, of water, of mercury, etc.; the Column Vendôme; the spinal column.

A body of troops formed in ranks, one behind the other; - contradistinguished from line. Compare Ploy, and Deploy.

A number of ships so arranged as to follow one another in single or double file or in squadrons; - in distinction from "line", where they are side by side.

A perpendicular set of lines, not extending across the page, and separated from other matter by a rule or blank space; as, a column in a newspaper.

A perpendicular line of figures.

The body formed by the union of the stamens in the Mallow family, or of the stamens and pistil in the orchids.

One of a series of articles written in a periodical, usually under the same title and at regular intervals; it may be written and signed by one or more authors, or may appear pseudonymously or anonymously, as an editorial column.

A line of (usually military) units following one after another

A vertical glass tube used in column chromatography; a mixture is poured in the top and washed through a stationary substance where components of the mixture are adsorbed selectively to form colored bands

A linear array of numbers one above another

Anything tall and thin approximating the shape of a column or tower;

An article giving opinions or perspectives

A vertical structure standing alone and not supporting anything (as a monument or a column of air)

(architeture) a tall cylindrical vertical upright and used to support a structure