pileup

noun

pile·​up ˈpī(-ə)l-ˌəp 

1

: a collision involving usually several motor vehicles

2

a

: a jammed tangled mass or pile (as of motor vehicles or people) resulting from collision or accumulation

b

: accumulation

Synonyms of pileup

• accumulation
• collection
• pile
• jumble
• mixture
• gathering
• assemblage
• cumulation

Examples of pileup in a Sentence

A five-car pileup slowed traffic.

a pileup of e-mail messages that needed to be dealt with

Recent Examples on the Web

Pastrnak took it to the net, drew a penalty on Erik Haula and, with a pileup in front of the net, the puck squirted out to Lindholm. —Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 6 Mar. 2026

Five people died as a result of the multi-vehicle pileup. —Jennifer McRae, CBS News, 6 Mar. 2026

There’s a palpable fear that her smashmouth attack style won’t work, and his collaborative politics might, in a red state where a Republican primary pileup has given Democrats a rare opening. —David Weigel, semafor.com, 2 Mar. 2026

Spring wind events can produce sudden dust storms that reduce visibility to near zero, leading to deadly highway pileups. —Doyle Rice, USA Today, 1 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1900, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for pileup

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup