|
  • Search Results
  • Advanced Search
  • List Builder
  • Random Word

pile

A pile is a heap of stuff that keeps accumulating, like the dirty laundry in the back of your closet, or Uncle Scrooge’s money.

Pile can be used as a noun or a verb. If you pile rocks on top of each other, you will eventually have a...pile of rocks. Unlike the word stack, pile implies that your heap of stuff is fairly messy. It can also mean cram. When eight people pile into a car with only five seats, they’re likely to be pretty much squashed.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: pile

1
 nv
a collection of objects laid on top of each other
place or lay as if in a pile
2
 n
fine soft dense hair (as the fine short hair of cattle or deer or the wool of sheep or the undercoat of certain dogs)
3
 n
battery consisting of voltaic cells arranged in series; the earliest electric battery devised by Volta
4
 n
a column of wood or steel or concrete that is driven into the ground to provide support for a structure
5
 n
a nuclear reactor that uses controlled nuclear fission to generate energy
FULL DEFINITIONS OF: pile
1

n a collection of objects laid on top of each other

Synonyms:
agglomerate, cumulation, cumulus, heap, mound
Types:
show 10 types...
hide 10 types...
compost heap, compost pile
a heap of manure and vegetation and other organic residues that are decaying to become compost
dunghill, midden, muckheap, muckhill
a heap of dung or refuse
scrapheap
pile of discarded metal
shock
a pile of sheaves of grain set on end in a field to dry; stalks of Indian corn set up in a field
slagheap
pile of waste matter from coal mining etc
stack
an orderly pile
funeral pyre, pyre
wood heaped for burning a dead body as a funeral rite
woodpile
a pile or stack of wood to be used for fuel
stockpile
a storage pile accumulated for future use
hayrick, haystack, rick
a stack of hay
Type of:
accumulation, aggregation, assemblage, collection
several things grouped together or considered as a whole

n (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent

Synonyms:
batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint, mountain, muckle, passel, peck, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad
Types:
deluge, flood, inundation, torrent
an overwhelming number or amount
haymow
a mass of hay piled up in a barn for preservation
Type of:
large indefinite amount, large indefinite quantity
an indefinite quantity that is above the average in size or magnitude

n a large sum of money (especially as pay or profit)

Synonyms:
big bucks, big money, bundle, megabucks
Type of:
money
wealth reckoned in terms of money

v place or lay as if in a pile

“The teacher piled work on the students until the parents protested”
Type of:
lay, place, pose, position, put, set
put into a certain place or abstract location

v arrange in stacks

Synonyms:
heap, stack
Types:
rick
pile in ricks
cord
stack in cords
Type of:
arrange, set up
put into a proper or systematic order

v press tightly together or cram

Synonyms:
jam, mob, pack, throng
Type of:
crowd, crowd together
to gather together in large numbers
2

n fine soft dense hair (as the fine short hair of cattle or deer or the wool of sheep or the undercoat of certain dogs)

Synonyms:
down
Types:
lanugo
the fine downy hair covering a human fetus; normally shed during the ninth month of gestation
Type of:
hair
a covering for the body (or parts of it) consisting of a dense growth of threadlike structures (as on the human head); helps to prevent heat loss

n the yarn (as in a rug or velvet or corduroy) that stands up from the weave

“for uniform color and texture tailors cut velvet with the pile running the same direction”
Synonyms:
nap
Type of:
thread, yarn
a fine cord of twisted fibers (of cotton or silk or wool or nylon etc.) used in sewing and weaving
3

n battery consisting of voltaic cells arranged in series; the earliest electric battery devised by Volta

Synonyms:
galvanic pile, voltaic pile
Type of:
battery, electric battery
a device that produces electricity; may have several primary or secondary cells arranged in parallel or series
4

n a column of wood or steel or concrete that is driven into the ground to provide support for a structure

Synonyms:
piling, spile, stilt
Types:
sheath pile, sheet pile, sheet piling
a pile in a row of piles driven side by side to retain earth or prevent seepage
Type of:
column, pillar
(architecture) a tall vertical cylindrical structure standing upright and used to support a structure
5

n a nuclear reactor that uses controlled nuclear fission to generate energy

Synonyms:
atomic pile, atomic reactor, chain reactor
Type of:
nuclear reactor, reactor
(physics) any of several kinds of apparatus that maintain and control a nuclear reaction for the production of energy or artificial elements
Learn Launch
WORD FAMILY
USAGE EXAMPLES