"sixth column" meaning in All languages combined

See sixth column on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Forms: sixth columns [plural]
Etymology: Extension of fifth column. Head templates: {{en-noun}} sixth column (plural sixth columns)
  1. An additional group, beyond an identified fifth column, of people which clandestinely undermines a larger group, such as a nation, to which it is expected to be loyal.
    Sense id: en-sixth_column-en-noun-79xlfvBD Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Six Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 85 15 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 87 13 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 89 11 Disambiguation of Six: 58 42
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see sixth, column.
    Sense id: en-sixth_column-en-noun-lMB6glcc

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Extension of fifth column.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sixth columns",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "sixth column (plural sixth columns)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "87 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "89 11",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "58 42",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Six",
          "orig": "en:Six",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              75,
              87
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1940 June 3, The Sun News-Pictorial, Melbourne, page 3, column 3:",
          "text": "If the Government is talking about suppressing a Fifth Column, why raise a Sixth Column?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              66,
              78
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1940 September 20, The Advertiser, Adelaide, page 24, column 4:",
          "text": "True, we have people of the fifth column, and, unfortunately, the sixth column, with us; they have them in every country; but so far in this war the British diplomatic and secret service has not been so successful as that clever, astute brute-man Hitler and his agents.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An additional group, beyond an identified fifth column, of people which clandestinely undermines a larger group, such as a nation, to which it is expected to be loyal."
      ],
      "id": "en-sixth_column-en-noun-79xlfvBD",
      "links": [
        [
          "additional",
          "additional"
        ],
        [
          "group",
          "group"
        ],
        [
          "fifth column",
          "fifth column"
        ],
        [
          "clandestinely",
          "clandestinely"
        ],
        [
          "undermine",
          "undermine"
        ],
        [
          "nation",
          "nation"
        ],
        [
          "loyal",
          "loyal"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see sixth, column."
      ],
      "id": "en-sixth_column-en-noun-lMB6glcc",
      "links": [
        [
          "sixth",
          "sixth#English"
        ],
        [
          "column",
          "column#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "sixth column"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Six"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Extension of fifth column.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sixth columns",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "sixth column (plural sixth columns)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              75,
              87
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1940 June 3, The Sun News-Pictorial, Melbourne, page 3, column 3:",
          "text": "If the Government is talking about suppressing a Fifth Column, why raise a Sixth Column?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              66,
              78
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1940 September 20, The Advertiser, Adelaide, page 24, column 4:",
          "text": "True, we have people of the fifth column, and, unfortunately, the sixth column, with us; they have them in every country; but so far in this war the British diplomatic and secret service has not been so successful as that clever, astute brute-man Hitler and his agents.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An additional group, beyond an identified fifth column, of people which clandestinely undermines a larger group, such as a nation, to which it is expected to be loyal."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "additional",
          "additional"
        ],
        [
          "group",
          "group"
        ],
        [
          "fifth column",
          "fifth column"
        ],
        [
          "clandestinely",
          "clandestinely"
        ],
        [
          "undermine",
          "undermine"
        ],
        [
          "nation",
          "nation"
        ],
        [
          "loyal",
          "loyal"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see sixth, column."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sixth",
          "sixth#English"
        ],
        [
          "column",
          "column#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "sixth column"
}

Download raw JSONL data for sixth column meaning in All languages combined (1.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.