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Synonyms

piles

British  
/ paɪlz /

plural noun

  1. a nontechnical name for haemorrhoids

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of piles

C15: from Latin pilae balls (referring to the appearance of external piles)

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.

Then, they’d push the carcasses into piles and burn them.

From Slate • Apr. 20, 2026

Fast forward a month and Gibbs-White's hat-trick piles more misery on Spurs and gives them another reminder of what could have been.

From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026

They also have to remove leaves, twigs and needles from gutters, and they already cannot keep exposed firewood in piles next to their house.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 18, 2026

Demand in China has been wobbly, and the company has been trying to sell off piles of unwanted casual sneakers, like Dunks and Air Force 1s.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026

Within minutes, the table is filled with a feast’s worth of food; there are plates of rice, pots of soup, piles of potatoes, and many servings of meat.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

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.