as in accumulations
a mass or quantity that has piled up or that has been gathered over a period of time
a pileup of e-mail messages that needed to be dealt with
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Recent Examples of pileups
Seven vehicles were involved in two pileups that occurred in a five-minute period Monday on the Golden Gate Bridge, the California Highway Patrol reported.
—
Cameron MacDonald, Mercury News, 10 Feb. 2026
In recent weeks California's Central Valley has been blanketed with a thick dense fog known as tule (TOO-lee) fog, causing massive vehicle pileups along Interstate-5 along Highway CA-99.
—Janet Loehrke, USA Today, 5 Feb. 2026
On Tuesday night, New York City’s color-loving partygoers braved the fierce cold, emerging from cars on Gansevoort Street clad in floor-length sequin gowns and a kaleidoscope of prints, stepping over three-foot snow pileups to enter the museum.
—Gaby Keiderling, Vogue, 28 Jan. 2026
Smart uses of trays can add style and function to your home and avoid clutter pileups.
—Abby Wolner, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Jan. 2026
Such low visibility poses a considerable risk, potentially leading to accidents and vehicle pileups.
—Anna Skinner, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Oct. 2025
Instead, the generic ‘90s throwback action movie plays like a string of car-crash pileups and urban destruction with little of interest in terms of the human element.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 30 Sep. 2025
Cameron MacDonald, Mercury News, 10 Feb. 2026
In recent weeks California's Central Valley has been blanketed with a thick dense fog known as tule (TOO-lee) fog, causing massive vehicle pileups along Interstate-5 along Highway CA-99.
—Janet Loehrke, USA Today, 5 Feb. 2026
On Tuesday night, New York City’s color-loving partygoers braved the fierce cold, emerging from cars on Gansevoort Street clad in floor-length sequin gowns and a kaleidoscope of prints, stepping over three-foot snow pileups to enter the museum.
—Gaby Keiderling, Vogue, 28 Jan. 2026
Smart uses of trays can add style and function to your home and avoid clutter pileups.
—Abby Wolner, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Jan. 2026
Such low visibility poses a considerable risk, potentially leading to accidents and vehicle pileups.
—Anna Skinner, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Oct. 2025
Instead, the generic ‘90s throwback action movie plays like a string of car-crash pileups and urban destruction with little of interest in terms of the human element.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 30 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pileups
Noun
-
Snow accumulations 4 to 10 inches above 6000 feet.—
Southern California Weather Report,
Daily News,
7 Feb. 2026
-
The cold front is also bringing more snow to the area, adding to piles of snow that have yet to melt from last week’s major storm — the city’s biggest in five years — though accumulations are expected to be far lower.—
Muri Assunção,
New York Daily News,
6 Feb. 2026
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
-
The result also spotlights conference championships’ awkward fit in the current system, particularly given the fact that conference expansion has led to jumbles atop each league’s standings.—
Jacob Feldman,
Sportico.com,
7 Dec. 2025
-
Ray’s most chaotic photograms—jumbles that push out of the frame or look like time bombs ready to explode—find echoes in his films, projected on the back walls, a show in themselves.—
Vince Aletti,
New Yorker,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Sugar does have benefits for feeding cut flowers, which is why it's added to the mixtures used by florists, but in flower food formulas, the sucrose is blended with antimicrobial elements to keep the water free from bacteria.—
Peg Aloi,
The Spruce,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Many of these jars contain unknown or poorly documented chemical mixtures that could be toxic to humans or harmful to the specimens themselves if disturbed.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Other guests nearby were peering at displays of new pieces from the brand’s Les Pétales and The Bows high jewelry collections.—
Kristen Tauer,
Footwear News,
11 Feb. 2026
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And rent collections in many working-class buildings in New York never fully rebounded after COVID.—
Michael Powell,
The Atlantic,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Such gatherings are totally counter to AI’s onslaught of decontextualized content.—
Imogen West-Knights,
The Dial,
10 Feb. 2026
-
Guadalupe has increased police patrols and invested in aerial surveillance systems, including drones and counter-drone technology, to monitor large public gatherings.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
10 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pileups.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pileups. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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