pile up
Britishverb
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to gather or be gathered in a pile; accumulate
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informal to crash or cause to crash
noun
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Accumulate, as in The leaves piled up in the yard , or He piled up a huge fortune . In this idiom pile means “form a heap or mass of something.” [Mid-1800s]
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Be involved in a crash, as in When the police arrived, at least four cars had piled up . [Late 1800s]
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.
A normal correction in one industry feels like a market crash, and the damage can pile up quickly when the entire portfolio depends on the same trade.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
Scotland sits in seventh place in these standings, but their rivals have games left to pile up goals and leapfrog them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
The losses have continued to pile up this term: Once again, the 5th Circuit looks poised to have the highest reversal rate of any appeals court.
From Slate ● Jun. 12, 2026
Empty plastic bottles pile up on the kerbs of its potholed streets.
From Barron's ● May 20, 2026
“And hello to you too,” my dad says, coming over to watch all my things pile up in the closet.
From "Watch Us Rise" by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
