Pedestal

The word pedestal - pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, IPA: /'pɛ dɪ (or ə)s təl/ - is spelled this way: it has two '-e-'s and only one '-a-'. (It is derived, like pedestrian, from the Latin pēs, genitive pĕdis, 'a foot'.)

• A pedestal was originally the base for a column. It has come to be used for a supporting base for a statue, or any kind of weighty ornament. In the literal sense, it is more or less interchangeable with plinth, although a fine distinction can be made between plinth as the plain block under an ornamental pedestal. (Both terms are sometimes used for a course of masonry at the base of a wall or building at ground level which sticks out further than the masonry above it.)
• Figuratively pedestal is used in such phrases as "He put his leader on a pedestal", meaning 'He regarded the leader as someone to be admired [and probably not open to criticism]'. Formerly, the figurative use was as the base of a theory, idea or condition "the pedestal of our happiness", "North America, Europe and Japan were the pedestals of the world economy". In this sense, the current (2013) idiom is more often 'plank'.