1
as in piles
a quantity of things thrown or stacked on one another
the ants made little hills of dirt
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in mounds
an area of high ground
a town nestled in a valley surrounded by green hills
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in inclines
an upward slope
I got stuck behind a truck going up a hill in a no-passing zone
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in banks
to form into a pile or ridge of earth
hilled peat moss around the rosebushes to protect them from the freeze
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hills
Maureen O'Hare, CNN Money, 9 Feb. 2026
From the West Side to the East Side, the riverfront to the surrounding hills, Cincinnati is a city of 52 unique neighborhoods.
—David Ferrara, Cincinnati Enquirer, 8 Feb. 2026
By night, warm copper hues stretch across the hills, filling the rooms.
—Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 8 Feb. 2026
Every spring, California’s hills, mountains, and even deserts transform in a whirlwind of brilliant colors.
—Cu Fleshman, Travel + Leisure, 8 Feb. 2026
Нe used a triangulation method, identifying distinctive features in Luna 9’s original 1966 ground-level panoramas—two distant hills, specific boulders and an ejecta streak—and matched them with topographic data from the LRO’s laser altimeter.
—Ilya Ferapontov, Scientific American, 5 Feb. 2026
Local volunteers who maintain the La Jolla Bike Path have discovered a small network of makeshift, unauthorized trails on the slopes and hills above the path and are working to get the city of San Diego involved.
—Ashley MacKin Solomon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Feb. 2026
In the hills, in the hollows, up the draws and the old dirt logging roads, hidden in the chaparral above the fog line, growing and selling weed became a way of life, woven into the community and its economy.
—Scott Eden, Rolling Stone, 1 Feb. 2026
The wheels, for example, are oversized so the suitcase is easy to drag over bricks, curbs, dirt, or up steep hills.
—The Editors, Outside, 1 Feb. 2026
Noun
Beyond them, the concrete of the 21st century falls away, replaced by creamy pillars and marble paving stretching into the distance, with green hills beyond.
—Maureen O'Hare, CNN Money, 9 Feb. 2026
From the West Side to the East Side, the riverfront to the surrounding hills, Cincinnati is a city of 52 unique neighborhoods.
—David Ferrara, Cincinnati Enquirer, 8 Feb. 2026
By night, warm copper hues stretch across the hills, filling the rooms.
—Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 8 Feb. 2026
Every spring, California’s hills, mountains, and even deserts transform in a whirlwind of brilliant colors.
—Cu Fleshman, Travel + Leisure, 8 Feb. 2026
Нe used a triangulation method, identifying distinctive features in Luna 9’s original 1966 ground-level panoramas—two distant hills, specific boulders and an ejecta streak—and matched them with topographic data from the LRO’s laser altimeter.
—Ilya Ferapontov, Scientific American, 5 Feb. 2026
Local volunteers who maintain the La Jolla Bike Path have discovered a small network of makeshift, unauthorized trails on the slopes and hills above the path and are working to get the city of San Diego involved.
—Ashley MacKin Solomon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Feb. 2026
In the hills, in the hollows, up the draws and the old dirt logging roads, hidden in the chaparral above the fog line, growing and selling weed became a way of life, woven into the community and its economy.
—Scott Eden, Rolling Stone, 1 Feb. 2026
The wheels, for example, are oversized so the suitcase is easy to drag over bricks, curbs, dirt, or up steep hills.
—The Editors, Outside, 1 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hills
Noun
-
These piles will be more durable, Yung said, because they are composed of larger trees, some of which have 12-inch diameter trunks.—
Bryan Hendricks,
Arkansas Online,
15 Feb. 2026
-
Burn piles sit close to the road, left during mitigation efforts by Denver Mountain Parks, which owns a lot of land in the area.—
Alan Gionet,
CBS News,
14 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Jim Lapic, master gardener with the Penn State Master Gardener Program, uses broken terracotta pots and places them along the sides of his garden mounds.—
Michelle Mastro,
Martha Stewart,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Another repost shows mounds of garbage piled up in New York City after the recent snowstorm.—
Bart Jansen,
USA Today,
6 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
There was treadmill work, the running deck set at steep inclines, the speed gradually increasing.—
Don Norcross,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
11 Feb. 2026
-
But the car—small, low to the ground, and exceedingly heavy, owing to the ballistic steel and glass—is not suited to a city like Caracas, which is rife with steep inclines and deep potholes, and is best travelled in a four-by-four.—
Armando Ledezma,
New Yorker,
14 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
The group banks its seventh champ total.—
Pamela Bustios,
Billboard,
4 Nov. 2025
-
To them, bank lending has multiplicative qualities whereby Bank A rents $100,000 from a saver, lends out $90,000 to a borrower who then banks the money at Bank B, only for Bank B to lend out $81,000, only for the borrower to bank the $81,000 at Bank C that lends out $72,900.—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
31 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Newspaper clippings, photographs and letters of support – gathered into neat stacks or placed in tidy collages – form an unofficial archive of her life’s work.—
April Quevedo,
jsonline.com,
9 Feb. 2026
-
Atwood has stacks of research for her novels in these archives.—
Will Croxton,
CBS News,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Where once mountains were blanketed in thick white powder, many lie bare well into winter.—
Laura Paddison,
CNN Money,
10 Feb. 2026
-
This is, of course, impacting snowpack in California’s mountains — snow that is a vital source of water for the state’s agriculture, recreation (ski tourism), and energy.—
Monica Garske,
USA Today,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The film offers a sharp study of what drives so many to attempt near-impossible ascents, and why audiences can’t stop watching them in turn.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
14 Feb. 2026
-
Teams of male and female competitors will race on longer courses than the sprints, with two ascents and two descents.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
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However, sometimes the abnormal IgA (the antibody that clumps up and causes problems) does run in families.—
Brandi Jones,
Health,
15 Jan. 2026
-
Cocoa powder often clumps in its container.—
Erin Merhar,
Southern Living,
11 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hills.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hills. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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