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
-
The three-block stretch, between 16th and 19th avenues, looks markedly different from just a year ago, when tents, abandoned cars and piles of trash crowded the street and sidewalks.—
Da Lin,
CBS News,
18 Apr. 2026
-
Black smoke billowed into the night sky of the Ukrainian capital, the morning revealing charred cars and piles of debris scattered next to damaged buildings.—
Yuliya Talmazan,
NBC news,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Flies buzzed over the growing mounds of trash.—
Kate Linthicum,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Apr. 2026
-
On Monday evening, a EF-2 tornado from the west swept through four blocks of the Franklin County seat, effectively destroying TruComp’s 76,000-square-foot building, shearing off its front and blasting its east side into mounds of bricks, insulation and twisted metal.—
Eric Adler,
Kansas City Star,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
In a photo shared by police, officers appeared to have recovered stacks of 20-dollar bills, pills in prescription bottles, and a white powdery substance in little baggies.—
Colleen Cronin,
Boston Herald,
19 Apr. 2026
-
My daughters reliably sought them out among our stacks and stacks of baby books.—
Alex Kirshner,
New York Times,
12 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
There are heaps of hotels, hostels, and homestays in Hạ Long for around $15 a night.—
Evie Carrick,
Travel + Leisure,
16 Apr. 2026
-
Checking out Bandcamp, though, there are now heaps of new releases from the likes of Robyn and Kneecap!—
Shirl Leigh
April 06,
New Atlas,
6 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cairns.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cairns. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.
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