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pile

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A mass of things heaped together.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

pyl
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpaɪl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A mass of things heaped together; a heap.

  2. A mass formed in layers.

  3. informal

    A group or list of related items up for consideration, especially in some kind of selection process.

  4. often followed by `of'

    A large number or amount or extent

  5. A large building, or mass of buildings.

  6. A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals (especially copper and zinc), laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; a voltaic pile, or galvanic pile.

verb

  1. transitiveoften used with the preposition "up"

    To lay or throw into a pile or heap; to heap up; to collect into a mass; to accumulate

  2. transitive

    To cover with heaps; or in great abundance; to fill or overfill; to load.

  3. transitive

    To add something to a great number.

  4. transitiveof vehicles

    To create a hold-up.

  5. Place or lay as if in a pile

    “The teacher piled work on the students until the parents protested.”

  6. intransitive

    To form a pile or heap.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
General and technical use

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A mass of things heaped together; a heap.

Used this way, pile is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use pile

  • “The teacher piled work on the students until the parents protested.”verb
  • “For uniform color and texture tailors cut velvet with the pile running the same direction.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Large

large pilesmall pilebig pile

Vertical

voltaic pile

Other combinations

compost pilepile driverfuneral pilegreat pile

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • pilesnounPlural form

    Venous swelling external or internal to the anal sphincter.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • pile drivernounCompound term

    A machine that drives piling into the ground.

  • pile dwellingnounCompound term

    Dwelling built on piles in or near a lake.

  • pile upverbCompound term

    Collect or gather.

  • junk pilenounCompound term

    An accumulation of refuse and discarded matter.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: mass of things heaped together

heapflockthrong

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.