heap
Other forms: heaps; heaped; heaping
A great big pile of something is a heap. Your sloppy brother might keep all of his clothes in a heap on his bedroom floor.
A heap can be a literal mound of things — a heap of money in your piggy bank, or a heap of wet towels beside the pool — or it can be a figurative pile. For example, you might worry that if you're caught eating your roommate's pizza you'll be in a heap of trouble. Heap is also a verb, as when you heap compliments on your best friend. Since 1924 heap has also meant "junky old car."
Definitions of heap
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a collection of objects laid on top of each other
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synonyms:
agglomerate, cumulation, cumulus, mound, pile
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types:
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compost heap, compost pile
a heap of manure and vegetation and other organic residues that are decaying to become compost
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dunghill, midden, muckheap, muckhill
a heap of dung or refuse
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scrapheap
pile of discarded metal
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shock
a pile of sheaves of grain set on end in a field to dry; stalks of Indian corn set up in a field
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slagheap
pile of waste matter from coal mining etc
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stack
an orderly pile
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funeral pyre, pyre
wood heaped for burning a dead body as a funeral rite
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woodpile
a pile or stack of wood to be used for fuel
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stockpile
a storage pile accumulated for future use
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hayrick, haystack, rick
a stack of hay
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type of:
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accumulation, aggregation, assemblage, collection
several things grouped together or considered as a whole
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(often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
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synonyms:
batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint, mountain, muckle, passel, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad
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types:
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barrage, deluge, flood, flurry, inundation, torrent
an overwhelming number or amount
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haymow
a mass of hay piled up in a barn for preservation
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type of:
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large indefinite amount, large indefinite quantity
an indefinite quantity that is above the average in size or magnitude
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barrage, deluge, flood, flurry, inundation, torrent
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arrange in stacks
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fill to overflow
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bestow in large quantities“He heaped him with work”“She heaped scorn upon him”
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type of:
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give
transfer possession of something concrete or abstract to somebody
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give
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a car that is old and unreliable
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type of:
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auto, automobile, car, machine, motorcar
a motor vehicle with four wheels; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine
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dysphemism
an offensive or disparaging expression that is substituted for an inoffensive one
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auto, automobile, car, machine, motorcar
Pronunciation
US
/hip/
UK
/hip/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘heap'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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