dogpile

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noun

dog·​pile ˈdȯg-ˌpī(-ə)l 

variants or dog pile or dog-pile

plural dogpiles or dog piles or dog-piles

1

: a mass of people who have piled on top of one another (as in celebrating a sports victory or while fighting)

… baseball teams celebrated with a dogpile—a heap of flailing arms, legs and gloves.

—Jami Frankenberry

Another video shows students swinging at each other, and at the bottom of the dogpile is a female teacher.

—Peyton Yager

Greg Anthony … exchanged words with Johnson and punched him in the face. Those two went to the floor with a dogpile on top of them.

—Zach Buckley

also : the act or an instance of forming a dogpile

When Sterling's reserves ran out the clock, the starters left the bench for a dog pile at mid-court. Later they doused Rowland with a celebratory water-bottle shower.

—Todd Fertig

2

: a barrage of criticism, insults, etc. directed at someone or something by many people

Sanders … recovered his footing after being surprised by the debate's first dogpile, over his non-Democratic voting record on guns.

—Dallas Morning News

Other tweets … added to the dogpile of mockery and memes.

—Lisa Suhay

dogpile

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verb

variants or less commonly dog-pile

dogpiled also dog-piled; dogpiling also dog-piling; dogpiles also dog-piles

1

transitive + intransitive : to form a dogpile around someone especially as part of a fight or celebration

… a passel of brothers … dogpiling and throwing each other across the room.

—Tim Keown

Florida dog-piled after it won the Southeastern Conference …

—Dirk Chatelain

He then collapsed to his knees and his team dogpiled him on the court.

—David Rice

2

transitive + intransitive of a group of people : to direct a barrage of criticism, insults, etc. at (someone or something)

… when [Tucker] Carlson suggested the U.S. military should be more focused on fighting, DOD brass dogpiled him.

—Anders Hagstrom

—often used with on

When the sci-fi teen romance … hit theaters back in February, critics dogpiled on it for being a flashy, derivative mess …

—Chris Nashawaty

We hate to dogpile on the Huskies, but Northeastern's 77-0 loss at UMass Saturday ranked as the most lopsided in the country that day.

—Michael Vega

Examples of dogpile in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

As Trophy Club Byron Nelson volleyball completed a perfect season to win back-to-back state and national championships, players ran toward each other in a celebratory dogpile. —Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Nov. 2025

What was fun about this dogpile of not-so-minor miracles was that the best of them, the real bacon-saving heroics, came not necessarily from the most heralded of Dodgers, but the other guys. —Mirjam Swanson, Oc Register, 4 Nov. 2025

Verb

The players began to dogpile on top of each other with some punches being thrown in the ruckus. —Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2025

Social media users immediately began dogpiling on Omondi. —Robyn Mowatt, Essence, 1 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1921, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

circa 1947, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for dogpile

• argyle
• awhile
• beguile
• compile
• condyle
• defile
• erstwhile
• exile
• freestyle
• gentile
• hairstyle
• lifestyle