pile on
phrasal verb
piled on; piling on; piles on
US, informal
: to join other people in criticizing something or someone in usually an unfair way
After the first few negative reviews, all the other critics started piling on.
Examples of pile on in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The economic pressures continued to pile on, with foreign travelers and investors staying away from Uganda.
—
Abdi Latif Dahir, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2024
Try traditional pepperoni or pile on mushrooms, green bell peppers, and Italian sausage for those classic supreme pizza flavors.
—Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 26 Mar. 2024
The crowd cheered—and her team piled on top of her—when Choi was declared the winner.
—Sean Gregory, TIME, 5 Mar. 2024
Each morning, organized in neat piles on a long wooden table in front of the high dais that was the magistrate’s perch, case folders accumulated, painstakingly prepared by court staff for the eviction attorneys.
—Mya Frazier, Harper's Magazine, 26 Feb. 2024
Traffic begins to pile on the boulevard as the sun sways below the horizon.
—Danielle Dorsey, Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2024
Shame only helps scammers The internet has piled on this author for falling for a scam that seems painfully obvious from the outside.
—Heather Kelly, Washington Post, 17 Feb. 2024
British journalist Owen Jones and actor Blake Lively also expressed remorse for piling on.
—Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2024
The series’s creators—the Game of Thrones duo David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and The Terror: Infamy showrunner Alexander Woo—have stripped the scene of its hard-science jargon while piling on the theatrics.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 23 Mar. 2024
Abdi Latif Dahir, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2024
Try traditional pepperoni or pile on mushrooms, green bell peppers, and Italian sausage for those classic supreme pizza flavors.
—Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 26 Mar. 2024
The crowd cheered—and her team piled on top of her—when Choi was declared the winner.
—Sean Gregory, TIME, 5 Mar. 2024
Each morning, organized in neat piles on a long wooden table in front of the high dais that was the magistrate’s perch, case folders accumulated, painstakingly prepared by court staff for the eviction attorneys.
—Mya Frazier, Harper's Magazine, 26 Feb. 2024
Traffic begins to pile on the boulevard as the sun sways below the horizon.
—Danielle Dorsey, Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2024
Shame only helps scammers The internet has piled on this author for falling for a scam that seems painfully obvious from the outside.
—Heather Kelly, Washington Post, 17 Feb. 2024
British journalist Owen Jones and actor Blake Lively also expressed remorse for piling on.
—Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2024
The series’s creators—the Game of Thrones duo David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and The Terror: Infamy showrunner Alexander Woo—have stripped the scene of its hard-science jargon while piling on the theatrics.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 23 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pile on.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near pile on
Cite this Entry
“Pile on.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pile%20on. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.
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