dogpile

1 of 2

noun

dog·​pile ˈdȯg-ˌpī(-ə)l How to pronounce dogpile (audio)
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

2 of 2

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
Paga seems like a guy who had a passel of brothers at home, 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)
Then, 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
This, in addition to the numerous reporters commenting on each other’s updates, was nothing more than a dogpile. Letters To The Editor, Washington Post, 19 July 2024 One mistake in a championship game can be the difference between a loss and a dogpile on the pitcher’s mound. John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 May 2024
Verb
Many of us may delight in dogpiling Rogan’s artistic failure online, but silence could be the stronger choice. Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 6 Aug. 2024 When Pham crushed a backhand winner down the line, he was dogpiled by teammates. Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for dogpile 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dogpile.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1921, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

circa 1947, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of dogpile was in 1921

Dictionary Entries Near dogpile

Cite this Entry

“Dogpile.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dogpile. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

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