PILES Synonyms: 260 Similar and Opposite Words

piles 1 of 3

noun (1)

plural of pile

as in stacks

a quantity of things thrown or stacked on one another a large pile of newspapers that needed to be disposed of

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

as in loads

a considerable amount a job that paid piles of money

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

piles

2 of 3

noun (2)

plural of pile

as in furs

a soft airy substance or covering the lush pile of the carpeting

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as in wools

the hairy covering of a mammal especially when fine, soft, and thick a dog with such a dense pile that he never minded the cold

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piles

3 of 3

verb

present tense third-person singular of pile

as in heaps

to lay or throw on top of one another piled all the clothes on the chair before putting them away

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

unpiles

as in huddles

to gather into a closely packed group the kids piled into the car

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of piles

Noun

Some houses in the neighborhood already had piles of sandbags sitting on their front porches. — Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2026 Relocate Leaf Litter and Wood Piles Leaf litter, wood piles, and other yard debris offer shelter not only to pests but also to beneficial insects and wildlife. — Nadia Hassani, The Spruce, 16 Oct. 2026 When the lid loosens, LINE1 jumps around, DNA damage piles up and biological aging speeds up. — Hanna Wickes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 16 Oct. 2026 From bass pros on massive lakes to weekend anglers at backwoods farm ponds, these lures catch piles of bass. — Joe Cermele, Outdoor Life, 15 Oct. 2026 Soil fertility is mostly beside the point, and even an inconvenience, since lawns have to be mowed, leaves blown into piles, and pollen hosed off windshields in the spring. — James Whorton Jr, Longreads, 13 Oct. 2026 The Rest and Relax Inn in Pensacola, Florida, was surrounded by piles of debris after it was stripped of roofing materials during a heavy hit from the hurricane last night. — Erika Angulo, NBC news, 11 Oct. 2026 Pictures show divers working among piles of ancient pottery, with ceramic plates and bowls scattered across the sandy seabed. — Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 9 Oct. 2026 This practice allows property owners to burn small piles of wood on their property, in some cases with a permit and during certain weather conditions. — Jennifer Oldham, Denver Post, 8 Oct. 2026

Verb

My father piles French toast and syrup onto a plate and my mother pours a glass of milk. — Literary Hub, 17 Sep. 2026 Big swine farms produce huge amounts of solid waste, which piles up in lagoons until a flood can wash them into rivers. — Bill McKibben, New Yorker, 17 Sep. 2026 Once a week, Hall piles his three kids in the car, drives five minutes to Costco and turns into the second row of the parking lot. — Jessica Guynn, USA Today, 30 July 2026 According to relationship experts at The Gottman Institute, couples who talk through those details in advance tend to adjust more smoothly and argue less about the small stuff that piles up after move-in day. — Ashley Lynch, Sacbee.com, 29 July 2026 Instead of asking whether existing programs are delivering results, Congress piles new spending and new funding streams onto an already fragmented system. — Andy Harris, Baltimore Sun, 4 July 2026 The dirty laundry never piles up, nor does the ready-to-fold pile. — Tessa Cooper, The Spruce, 30 June 2026 More specifically — and without spoiling a story that piles the twists as high as the corpses — Pine's an ex-British soldier pulled from his porter duties and recruited to surveil a ruthless arms dealer, Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie) staying at the hotel. — Matt Cabral, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Apr. 2026 The result piles more pressure on Starmer, the least popular prime minister since records began, according to some polls. — Alexander Smith, NBC news, 27 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for piles

Noun

Improvements can even open new uses for electronics Benoit Lessard’s research group at the University of Ottawa is exploring different materials that can serve as the base layer for these conducting stacks, known as thin-film transistors.

— Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 17 Oct. 2026
With traditional debt tightening, developers have faced pressure to scale back projects or rethink their capital stacks entirely.

— Jill Jones, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of stacks

Noun

The deck replacement is necessary because traffic loads on the span have become increasingly heavy, and salt air has eroded bridge materials.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026
According to Formlabs, this improves strength, toughness, heat resistance, and resistance to gradual deformation under sustained loads, while producing a harder, less tacky surface.

— Michael Lydick, PC Magazine, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of loads

Noun

The ban covers textiles, leather, furs and hides in clothing, footwear and other related accessories for the general public.

— Roy Stephen Canivel, Footwear News, 13 Oct. 2026
An early tour of his estate, provided by the swirling camerawork of Emmanuel Lubezki, reveals a catalogue of crimes against the animal kingdom, with antlers and furs festooning every surface.

— Justin Chang, New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2026

Definition of furs

Noun

Using luxurious cottons, silks, wools and linen to emphasize the simplicity and ease of wardrobe staples — T-shirts, shorts, sweatshirts, skirts, button-down shirts, pants and tunics — elevating their wearability for day and night.

— Tonya Blazio-Licorish, Footwear News, 4 Aug. 2026
Although the word cashmere is sometimes incorrectly applied to extremely soft wools, only the product of the cashmere goat is true cashmere.

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 Mar. 2026

Definition of wools

Verb

Despite his injury, Tasci continued to be an active participant on the sideline and in team huddles throughout the game.

— Sean Campbell, Daily News, 28 Aug. 2026
An engineer overhears a sales call where a partner is requesting a specific feature and immediately huddles with the salesperson once the line clicks shut.

— Vikram Joshi, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026

Definition of huddles

Noun

Bogs tend to keep their secrets low to the ground, where colors shift by inches and boundaries blur in gradients of tiny mounds of moss and sedges emerging from pools.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2026
In 1900, an archaeologist documented 51 Native American mounds at what’s now Casper Bluff Land and Water Reserve, 5 miles outside Galena.

— Julia Sayers Gokhale, Midwest Living, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of mounds

Noun

Set up a reachable charging spot, have a plan for coats and bags, and carve out a quiet corner for people who want to actually talk.

— Lauren Schuster, Miami Herald, 19 Oct. 2026
While the weather was overcast—and the puffer coats and bomber jackets were in moody neutral hues—the day was about to get a whole lot brighter.

— Eden Stuart, Allure, 19 Oct. 2026