Pile

/paɪl/ · noun

Meaning

A mass of things heaped together; a heap..

Definitions by Sense

1. A mass of things heaped together; a heap.
2. (informal) A group or list of related items up for consideration, especially in some kind of selection process.
3. A mass formed in layers.
4. A funeral pile; a pyre.
5. (slang) A large amount of money.
6. A large building, or mass of buildings.
7. A bundle of pieces of wrought iron to be worked over into bars or other shapes by rolling or hammering at a welding heat; a fagot.
8. A vertical series of alternate disks of two dissimilar metals (especially copper and zinc), laid up with disks of cloth or paper moistened with acid water between them, for producing a current of electricity; a voltaic pile, or galvanic pile.

Example Sentences

I climbed through, and, standing on a pile of stones, lifted and dragged Cleopatra after me.

When we were looking for a new housemate, we put the nice woman on the "maybe" pile, and the annoying guy on the "no" pile

a pile of shot

Jove with a Nod, comply'd with her Deſire; / Around the Body flam'd the Funeral Fire; / The Pile decreas'd that lately ſeem'd ſo high, / And Sheets of Smoak roll'd upward to the Sky: [...]

He made a pile from that invention of his.

When they are at work they live most frugally, denying themselves every comfort and luxury till they have made a "pile."

The pile is of a gloomy and massive, rather than of an elegant, style of Gothic architecture; […]

The pile o'erlooked the town and drew the fight.

Synonyms for pile

Antonyms for pile

Related Words

Word Forms

• piles
• piling
• piled

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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