What does "table" mean?
Furniture with a top surface to accommodate a variety of uses.; An item of furniture with a flat top surface raised above the ground, usually on one or more legs.
Table
/ˈteɪbl̩/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Furniture with a top surface to accommodate a variety of uses.; An item of furniture with a flat top surface raised above the ground, usually on one or more legs.
- Grammar: table is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: grid, account, account book, address book.
- Useful contrasts: bureaus, construct a graph, desks.
- Usage evidence: Place the deck of cards on the oaken table.
How to use "table"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "table" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "table" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "table" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "table" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "table" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "grid" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "table", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Furniture with a top surface to accommodate a variety of uses.; An item of furniture with a flat top surface raised above the ground, usually on one or more legs. countable
"Set that dish on the table over there, please."
- 2 a piece of furniture having a smooth flat top that is usually supported by one or more vertical legs wordnet
- 3 Furniture with a top surface to accommodate a variety of uses.; The board or table-like furniture on which a game is played, such as snooker, billiards, or draughts. countable
- 4 a piece of furniture with tableware for a meal laid out on it wordnet
- 5 Furniture with a top surface to accommodate a variety of uses.; A flat tray which can be used as a table. countable
Show 21 more definitions
- 6 food or meals in general wordnet
- 7 Furniture with a top surface to accommodate a variety of uses.; A supply of food or entertainment. countable
"The baron kept a fine table and often held large banquets."
- 8 a set of data arranged in rows and columns wordnet
- 9 Furniture with a top surface to accommodate a variety of uses.; A booth or display at an event such as an exposition or fair. countable, metonymically
- 10 a company of people assembled at a table for a meal or game wordnet
- 11 Furniture with a top surface to accommodate a variety of uses.; A service of Holy Communion. countable
- 12 flat tableland with steep edges wordnet
- 13 Furniture with a top surface to accommodate a variety of uses.; One half of a backgammon board, which is divided into the inner and outer table. countable
- 14 Furniture with a top surface to accommodate a variety of uses.; A wide, flat obstacle for a horse to jump over. countable
- 15 A group of people at a table, for example, for a meal, meeting or game.
"Alas poore Yorick […] VVhere be your Jibes now? Your Gambals? Your Songs? Your flaſhes of Merriment that were wont to ſet the Table on a Rore?"
- 16 A group of people at a table, for example, for a meal, meeting or game.; The lineup of players at a given table. metonymically
"That's the strongest table I've ever seen at a European Poker Tour event"
- 17 A group of people at a table, for example, for a meal, meeting or game.; A group of players meeting regularly to play a campaign. metonymically
- 18 A group of people at a table, for example, for a meal, meeting or game.; A group of diners at a given table or tables. metonymically
"Table 9 wants another round of beers."
- 19 A two-dimensional presentation of data.; A matrix or grid of data arranged in rows and columns.
"I’m using mathesis — a universal science of measurement and order … And there is also taxinomia a principle of classification and ordered tabulation. Knowledge replaced universal resemblance with finite differences. History was arrested and turned into tables … Western reason had entered the age of judgement."
- 20 A two-dimensional presentation of data.; A collection of arithmetic calculations arranged in a table, such as multiplications in a multiplication table.
"The children were practising multiplication tables."
- 21 A two-dimensional presentation of data.; A lookup table, most often a set of vectors.
- 22 A two-dimensional presentation of data.; A visual representation of a classification of teams or individuals based on their success over a predetermined period.
"On this evidence they will certainly face tougher tests, as a depleted Newcastle side seemed to bask in the relative security of being ninth in the table."
- 23 The top of a stringed instrument, particularly a member of the violin family: the side of the instrument against which the strings vibrate.
- 24 The flat topmost facet of a cut diamond.
- 25 A flat gravestone supported on pillars.
- 26 A writing tablet. obsolete
Verb
- 1 To tabulate; to put into a table or grid.
"to table fines"
- 2 arrange or enter in tabular form wordnet
- 3 To supply (a guest, client etc.) with food at a table; to feed. archaic
"'April 13 1638, Henry Wotton, letter to John Milton At Siena I was tabled in the house of one Alberto Scipioni"
- 4 hold back to a later time wordnet
- 5 To delineate; to represent, as in a picture; to depict. obsolete
"c. 1607, Francis Bacon, letter to Tobie Matthew tabled and pictured in the chambers of meditation"
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 To put on the table of a commission or legislative assembly; to propose for formal discussion or consideration, to put on the agenda.
"In a raucous Commons, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, confirmed he had tabled a formal motion of confidence in the government, backed by other opposition leaders, which MPs would vote on on Wednesday."
- 7 To remove from the agenda, to postpone dealing with; to shelve (to indefinitely postpone consideration or discussion of something). US
"The legislature tabled the amendment, so they will not be discussing it until later."
- 8 To represent a company or organization (at an exposition, fair, etc.), usually at a booth or display. metonymically
- 9 To join (pieces of timber) together using coaks. obsolete
- 10 To put on a table.
"1833 Thomas Carlyle, letter to his Mother, The Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson [A]fter some clatter offered us a rent of five pounds for the right to shoot here, and even tabled the cash that moment, and would not pocket it again."
- 11 To show one's cards face-up, especially during showdown. colloquial
- 12 To make board hems in the skirts and bottoms of (sails) in order to strengthen them in the part attached to the bolt-rope.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"Place the deck of cards on the oaken table."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "table"?
Common synonyms include: grid, account, account book, address book, adjourn, adversaria.
How do you use "table" in a sentence?
Place the deck of cards on the oaken table.
How do you pronounce "table"?
Pronounced /ˈteɪbl̩/.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English table, tabel, tabil, tabul, from Old English tabele, tabul, tablu, tabule, tabula (“board”); also as tæfl, tæfel, an early Germanic borrowing of Latin tabula (“tablet, board, plank, chart”). The sense of “piece of furniture” is from Old French table, of same Latin origin; Old English used bēod or bord instead for this meaning: see board. Doublet of tabula and tavla.