as in piles
a quantity of wood heaped together for burning a dead body
a funeral pyre
Related Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of pyres
Carcasses of trees are piled up like pyres in one; in another, they are laid flat like a mass grave.
—
Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 23 Feb. 2026
Varanasi was quite an experience, seeing the funeral pyres.
—Simon Vozick-Levinson, Rolling Stone, 16 Feb. 2026
Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 23 Feb. 2026
Varanasi was quite an experience, seeing the funeral pyres.
—Simon Vozick-Levinson, Rolling Stone, 16 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pyres
Noun
-
Turn compost piles every two weeks.—
Tom MacCubbin,
The Orlando Sentinel,
25 Apr. 2026
-
Windscale’s two piles had been hastily built during the British atomic bomb project.—
Kurt Snibbe,
Oc Register,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The furniture is flanked by hundreds of jazz and classical CDs in tidy, towering racks, along with stacks of books and magazines.—
Daniel Cassady,
ARTnews.com,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Snowflake and Databricks all have their own semantic layer offerings baked into stacks enterprises are already paying for.—
Lily Mae Lazarus,
Fortune,
23 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Hillsides covered in fuel The hills surrounding Concepción, Penco and Lirquén appear deep green from the air, carpeted in trees, and in the thickness of these forests lies an insidious risk.—
Stefano Pozzebon,
CNN Money,
26 Apr. 2026
-
The surrounding land is also beautiful, with rolling hills, stone walls, and lush private gardens that are currently bursting into bloom.—
James Alexander,
Hartford Courant,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Uncollected garbage rotted in heaps, and people cued outside of bakeries for their daily government ration of bread.—
Kate Linthicum,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Apr. 2026
-
But don't be deceived by the small-town charm—there's plenty to do here, with historic downtowns full of unique shops, heaps of Southern comfort food, and 80,000 acres of wildlife areas to explore by kayak, bike, and boat.—
Amanda Ogle,
Travel + Leisure,
16 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Pyres.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pyres. Accessed 29 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
