pyramid

American  

[pir-uh-mid] / ˈpɪr ə mɪd /

noun

• pyramids
  plural

1. Architecture.

   1. (in ancient Egypt) a quadrilateral masonry mass having smooth, steeply sloping sides meeting at an apex, used as a tomb.

   2. (in ancient Egypt and pre-Columbian Central America) a quadrilateral masonry mass, stepped and sharply sloping, used as a tomb or a platform for a temple.

2. anything of such form.

3. a number of persons or things arranged or heaped up in this manner.

   a pyramid of acrobats; a pyramid of boxes.

4. a system or structure resembling a pyramid, as in hierarchical form.

5. Geometry. a solid having a polygonal base, and triangular sides that meet in a point.

6. Crystallography. any form the planes of which intersect all three of the axes.

7. Anatomy, Zoology. any of various parts or structures of pyramidal form.

8. pyramid scheme.

9. a tree pruned or trained to grow in conical form.

10. (used with a singular verb) pyramids, a form of pocket billiards for two or four players in which 15 colored balls, initially placed in the form of a triangle, are pocketed with one white cue ball.

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verb (used without object)

• pyramids,
  present (3rd person singular)
• pyramided,
  past participle,  past
• pyramiding
  present participle

1. to take, or become disposed in, the form of a pyramid.

2. Stock Exchange. (in speculating on margin) to enlarge one's operations in a series of transactions, as on a continued rise or decline in price, by using profits in transactions not yet closed, and consequently not yet in hand, as margin for additional buying or selling in the next transaction.

3. to increase gradually, as with the completion of each phase.

   Our problems are beginning to pyramid.

verb (used with object)

• pyramids,
  present (3rd person singular)
• pyramided,
  past participle,  past
• pyramiding
  present participle

1. to arrange in the form of a pyramid.

2. to raise or increase (costs, wages, etc.) by adding amounts gradually.

3. to cause to increase at a steady and progressive rate.

   New overseas markets have pyramided the company's profits.

4. Stock Exchange. (in speculating on margin) to operate in, or employ in, pyramiding.

pyramid British  

/ ˈpɪrəmɪd, pɪˈræmɪdəl /

noun

1. a huge masonry construction that has a square base and, as in the case of the ancient Egyptian royal tombs, four sloping triangular sides

2. an object, formation, or structure resembling such a construction

3. maths a solid having a polygonal base and triangular sides that meet in a common vertex

4. crystallog a crystal form in which three planes intersect all three axes of the crystal

5. anatomy any pointed or cone-shaped bodily structure or part

6. finance a group of enterprises containing a series of holding companies structured so that the top holding company controls the entire group with a relatively small proportion of the total capital invested

7. the series of transactions involved in pyramiding securities

8. (plural) a game similar to billiards with fifteen coloured balls

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verb

1. to build up or be arranged in the form of a pyramid

2. to speculate in (securities or property) by increasing purchases on additional margin or collateral derived from paper profits associated with high prices of securities and property in a boom

3. finance to form (companies) into a pyramid

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pyramidal
  adjective
• pyramidlike
  adjective
• pyramidally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pyramids
  plural

Participles

• pyramiding
  present
• pyramided
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• pyramid
  simple
• pyramids
  simple
• have pyramided
  perfect
• has pyramided
  perfect
• am pyramiding
  progressive
• are pyramiding
  progressive
• is pyramiding
  progressive
• have been pyramiding
  perfect progressive
• has been pyramiding
  perfect progressive

Past

• pyramided
  simple
• had pyramided
  perfect
• was pyramiding
  progressive
• were pyramiding
  progressive
• had been pyramiding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will pyramid
  simple
• will have pyramided
  perfect
• will be pyramiding
  progressive
• will have been pyramiding
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of pyramid

First recorded in 1350–1400; from Latin pȳramid- (stem of pȳramis ), from Greek pȳramís; replacing Middle English pyramis, from Latin, as above

Explanation

When you think pyramid, you're probably picturing the famous pyramids of Egypt — the enormous triangular monuments where pharaohs were buried thousands of years ago. Besides being a polyhedron shape, pyramid can also represent shady financial dealings. If you've got a pyramid scheme — and if you do, you may be reading this from your jail cell — you have people buy into your "investment" and then they recruit others to buy in, too. The early investors rise in the pyramid and are then paid "returns" out of the funds paid in by the new investors they've recruited (the pyramid base), and on and on.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pyramid pyramids pyramided pyramiding

The next Watkins, Eze, Wharton or Semenyo may already be somewhere further down the pyramid.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

I’d run my fingers across the convex pyramid textures in the same way other people lay under a weighted blanket or ate sour candy, jolting my subconscious back into the here and now.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

They barely finish before other mids start hoisting each other into a crude human pyramid.

From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026

France went ahead with its annual street music festival, the Fete de la Musique, despite the heat, but the Louvre museum in Paris scrapped a free concert under its famous glass pyramid.

From Barron's ● Jun. 21, 2026

Excited by this new idea, he quickly put together a catamaran of crisscross sticks in the form of a pyramid, tying the sticks together wherever they crossed.

From "Abel's Island" by William Steig

Spend enough years standing behind pyramids of hamburgers, posing at fry stations and inserting yourself into the iconography of American restaurant chains, and eventually the props begin to accrue meanings of their own.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026

After surveying his pyramids of cans, arrayed spices and stacks of noodle soup, they issued him a 2,500-euro fine, equivalent to around $2,866.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

“Fantasy” resulted from his meditations within the pyramids of Giza and his claimed communications with aliens.

From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2026

Teotihuacán, the collection of ancient, pre-Hispanic pyramids and temples and listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site, was closed in the wake of the shooting.

From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026

“You shall walk up the pyramids of Egypt!” he growled.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Meanwhile Billie Jean and Husband-Partner Larry have pyramided her skill and name into a tidy little conglomerate.

From Time Magazine Archive

Up to this year the Birthday Balls have been run by old Henry L. Doherty, president of Cities Service Co., one of the most pyramided holding companies ever devised.

From Time Magazine Archive

Among the standouts were three Alpine landscapes by Bruegel, who turned inches of paper into miles of thousands of mountainside by the application of thousands of tiny ink lines sensitively stitched and pyramided together.

From Time Magazine Archive

Gradually his original $20,000 investment pyramided into Tecon Corp., a general construction company that now has assets of $10 million.

From Time Magazine Archive

The paint was stacked in neatly pyramided lots along the concrete floor.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

If the pyramiding and true risks had been understood by investors, they would not likely have parted with their money.

From Salon ● May 5, 2013

Some in the world of taxes would describe that as pyramiding.

From New York Times ● Mar. 27, 2010

Thus denuded, the conspiracy charge, to Romiti's eyes at least, seemed one of "inference pyramiding on inference."

From Time Magazine Archive

To avoid pyramiding, each new permanent project has been financed independently.

From Time Magazine Archive

Thousands upon thousands the cones bristled, pyramiding to the base of one tremendous spire that tapered up almost to the top of the shaft itself.

From The Metal Monster by Abraham Merritt

Related Words

• edifice
• memorial
• monolith
• shrine
• tomb