dais

noun

da·​is ˈdā-əs How to pronounce dais (audio)
nonstandard
ˈdī- How to pronounce dais (audio)
Synonyms of daisnext
: a raised platform (as in a hall or large room)
Mounting the dais which had been set up for his use, he swirled the sinister cloak about him and sat down in the Abbot's chair.—Brian Jacques

Synonyms

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Examples of dais in a Sentence

the speaker took his place at the front of the dais
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
At President Trump’s inauguration, Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, was relegated to the overflow room while other tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg took prime spots on the dais under the Capitol rotunda. —Cecilia Kang, New York Times, 8 Feb. 2025 Bezos sat on the dais during Trump's inauguration with other tech titans. —David Folkenflik, NPR, 6 Feb. 2025 At Donald Trump’s inauguration, the CEOs of the companies who run the world’s six most popular websites sat alongside Trump’s family on the dais. —Lila Shroff, The Atlantic, 5 Feb. 2025 My approach as a leader has always been to direct efforts on the dais toward serving the community. —Courtlandt McQuire, Sun Sentinel, 1 Feb. 2025 See all Example Sentences for dais 

Word History

Etymology

Middle English deis, des "high table, elevated platform occupied by a court or council," borrowed from Anglo-French deis, dais (continental Old French deis "table of honor set up on a platform"), going back to Medieval Latin discus "raised table, platform," going back to Latin, "discus, kind of plate, gong," borrowed from Greek dískos "discus," in Late Greek also "dish, round mirror, the sun's disk, gong" — more at discus

Note: See note at dish entry 1. The predominant form in Middle French is dois, which should have resulted in Modern French [dwa]; the reason for the outcome dais [dɛ], with the presumed shift [dwɛ] to [dɛ], is in this, as in a number of parallel cases, unclear. As pointed out by the Oxford English Dictionary, first edition, the English word was, excepting Scots, out of use by 1600; the current word is an antiquarian revival, with the spelling presumably copying modern French.

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of dais was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near dais

dairywoman

dais

daise

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Dais.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dais. Accessed 13 Feb. 2025.

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Kids Definition

dais

noun
da·​is ˈdā-əs How to pronounce dais (audio)
: a raised platform (as in a large room)

More from Merriam-Webster on dais

Nglish: Translation of dais for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of dais for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about dais

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