anthill
Americannoun
-
anthills
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of anthill
1250–1300; Middle English amete hulle, ampte hille; see ant, hill
Explanation
The mounded nest that ants build out of dirt or sand is called an anthill. You can call a similar mound built by termites an anthill too. While an anthill is a kind of nest, it is generally formed when ants dig underground colonies and deposit the extra soil in one spot. In this way, an anthill is more of a doorway to a whole series of tunnels and nests, although the anthill itself will sometimes also contain nests. In some cases, ants shape the anthill into a specific, deliberate shape.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
When an anthill is disturbed, the response comes from the colony acting together rather than from any individual ant.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
But Oloya could not resist walking by an anthill without scooping some of the fresh, soft clay from it and creating a ball for a slingshot or something else from it.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2024
“But if you’re in charge of a hydroelectric green-energy project and there’s an anthill in the region to be flooded, too bad for the ants. Let’s not place humanity in the position of those ants.”
From Slate ● May 9, 2023
Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk, who likened the rebuilding to a bustling anthill, said residents are eager to close a deeply painful chapter.
From Reuters ● Mar. 30, 2023
Ikwa and Songololo joined me and Otto, and we four sat on a log and stared at a nearby anthill.
From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer
The sandfly commonly shelters in cracks in poorly plastered mud houses, anthills and soil fissures, multiplying during the rainy season after prolonged drought.
From Barron's ● Feb. 8, 2026
The rendition is hypnotic but also distancing, making these utopian dreamworlds seem even more artificial than they already were, now ungrounded in space and time, crowds moving en masse through cosmic anthills.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
Begay Sr. uses a walking stick to wind past pockets of yellow flowers, heavily trafficked anthills and the occasional prickly pear.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 30, 2023
And then fire threatens his family and all those issues become anthills in comparison to surviving this night.
From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2023
From afar, the many green, black, and blue plastic tents jut into the sky like thousands of anthills with blackhaired people frittering in every direction.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
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