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 /

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

At a store selling harmonic healing devices, I watched a man cradle a swaddled Chihuahua within a 9-foot-tall golden pyramid structure in an attempt to heal the dog’s vertigo.

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026

The solution comes to Cartman in a dream, courtesy of Aunt Jemima: the food pyramid is upside down.

From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026

That then increases to 48% in instances where Premier League clubs have bought players from lower down the English football pyramid.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

Bronson Cvijanovich, a former graduate student in the Department of Geology & Geophysics, noted that this is also about the same volume as the largest pyramid at Giza in Egypt.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026

I press the spot on the pyramid and all of a sudden, all four sides fold down at the same time and I'm looking inside the pyramid and, just like Freak promised, I'm amazed.

From "Freak The Mighty" by Rodman Philbrick

The research focused on six royal mummies originally uncovered during the 1890s at Dahshur, an Egyptian burial complex containing pyramids and shaft tombs.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026

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

That squeeze on the calendar would be felt all the way down the pyramids domestically and affect the structure of the game in every single country.

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

The Somers IBM plant sits on a hilltop, ringed by woods, its pyramids visible from nearby Interstate 684.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

A whole row of unstrung bows in varying stages of repair or build rested on a worktable, and hundreds of bushels of arrows were stacked into pyramids on the floor beside them.

From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack

His funeral took place almost within sight of the house where he was born and of the daily on which he pyramided an empire.

From Time Magazine Archive

When he wasn't twanging out patter, he pyramided cigar boxes on his chin and twirled hats through the air as "Freddy James, the World's Worst Juggler."

From Time Magazine Archive

The howls of local citizens evicted from apartments to make room for visitors have been loud and anguished, and rents have pyramided.

From Time Magazine Archive

The best special displays are big and impossible to avoid, i.e., pyramided in the center of the aisle, thus bringing traffic to a halt.

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

Yet the count works day & night pyramiding his holdings ever higher.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then they got in on the receiverships, made money at the expense of gullible security holders, and started the same old pyramiding game all over again.

From My Life and Work by Henry Ford

Related Words

• edifice
• memorial
• monolith
• shrine
• tomb