View synonyms for pile-on

pile-on

[ pahyl-on, ‐-awn ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

the action of followers who join a hostile group in harshly criticizing or judging a less dominant group or individual, sometimes gloating over that group’s or person's defeat or diminished standing (often used attributively): Social media encourages a kind of pile-on mentality that is very unforgiving of mistakes and flaws.
Long after the merciless baiting ceased to be funny, her critics continued to join the pile-on.
Social media encourages a kind of pile-on mentality that is very unforgiving of mistakes and flaws.

Origin of pile-on¹

Noun use of verb phrase pile on

And yet the social media pile-on against Champion was swift.

The media pile-on will change the way voters look at the debate, as happened after Gore's eye-rolling performance in 2000.

The pile-on against this 17-year-old boy is pretty ugly, but I suppose unsurprising.

The risk in the pile-on is that a real doozie will get missed, lost in the daily torrent.

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