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
Nearby residents have endured years of negative health impacts, including higher-than-average rates of lung cancer in the surrounding county, polluted air, and environmental degradation — all while thousands of tons of trash is trucked in and piled on to the mountain of garbage each day.
—
Ryan Castalia, New York Daily News, 23 Jan. 2025
The biggest concern for the department over the next several days and following warmer daytime temperatures is the evening and overnight refreeze of melting snow and ice piled on the sides of the roads.
—Parker Mancino, arkansasonline.com, 12 Jan. 2025
The White House has piled on, working to blame Republicans for getting in the way of disaster relief and other critical spending.
—Brian Bennett, TIME, 19 Dec. 2024
Advertisement At major airports, flights were operating, but airlines were already piling on new cancellations and delays after Friday’s weather slowed airline travel to a crawl.
—Jeff Amy and Ben Finley, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for pile on 
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.
Ryan Castalia, New York Daily News, 23 Jan. 2025
The biggest concern for the department over the next several days and following warmer daytime temperatures is the evening and overnight refreeze of melting snow and ice piled on the sides of the roads.
—Parker Mancino, arkansasonline.com, 12 Jan. 2025
The White House has piled on, working to blame Republicans for getting in the way of disaster relief and other critical spending.
—Brian Bennett, TIME, 19 Dec. 2024
Advertisement At major airports, flights were operating, but airlines were already piling on new cancellations and delays after Friday’s weather slowed airline travel to a crawl.
—Jeff Amy and Ben Finley, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for pile on
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 30 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share