as in piles
a small quantity of stones heaped together that usually marks a place
A cairn of loose stones marked the site.
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Recent Examples of cairns
The Park Service recommends that people not disturb, knock down or add to cairns, though some parks caution visitors not to rely on them as official pathways.
—
Noah Lyons, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Jan. 2026
Above the glacial lake Ullswater, prehistoric cairns and burial mounds dot the high moorland, including the Cockpit Stone Circle, which spans 90 feet.
—Andrea Bussell, Travel + Leisure, 27 Dec. 2025
Found around the perimeter ring, there are six additional cairns.
—Mike Bezemek, Outside, 29 Oct. 2025
Noah Lyons, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Jan. 2026
Above the glacial lake Ullswater, prehistoric cairns and burial mounds dot the high moorland, including the Cockpit Stone Circle, which spans 90 feet.
—Andrea Bussell, Travel + Leisure, 27 Dec. 2025
Found around the perimeter ring, there are six additional cairns.
—Mike Bezemek, Outside, 29 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cairns
Noun
-
At Crandon Park Beach, a crew shooting an ad for Bush’s Baked Beans adjusted their camera angles to crop the piles of seaweed out of the frame.—
Ashley Miznazi,
Miami Herald,
9 May 2026
-
Both residents and tourists cruise around on single-speed bikes, parking them in haphazard piles to shop in luxury boutiques, visit the famous Sunday market for clothing and home goods, or grab a cappuccino in a glitzy café.—
Rebecca Rose,
Travel + Leisure,
9 May 2026
Noun
-
In that case, use a drench to kill fire ant mounds.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
7 May 2026
-
At the new Orkin Discovery Zone inside the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta, visitors can learn how termites and the mounds these bulbous invertebrates make have inspired the chimneys in our homes.—
Olivia Wakim,
AJC.com,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Thoreau’s river science The most analytically rigorous science of Thoreau’s life culminated with his 1859 research trip to the library stacks of Harvard College.—
Robert M. Thorson,
The Conversation,
8 May 2026
-
High-density housing stacks more annual tax revenue into smaller areas.—
Linh Tat,
Oc Register,
4 May 2026
Noun
-
That is partially a product of the heaps of experience this group has together in these types of moments.—
Eric Stephens,
New York Times,
15 May 2026
-
Over the years, excavations at Chagyrskaya Cave in southwestern Siberia have unearthed an assortment of Paleolithic treasures, including heaps of tools fashioned from stone and bone, alongside fossils from the easternmost population of Neanderthals.—
Ari Daniel,
NPR,
13 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cairns.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cairns. Accessed 15 May. 2026.
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