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
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His assassination, piled on top of the murder of JFK and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and the raging war, prompted Goodwin to exit politics. Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 14 Feb. 2025 Others, like Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac, pile on bonus features that protect many other aspects of your security and privacy. PCMAG, 24 Jan. 2025 Murray was the best he’s been all season in a 118-99 Nuggets win over the Mavericks, piling on 32 of his 45 points in the first half at American Airlines Center. Bennett Durando, The Denver Post, 15 Jan. 2025 Hill was forced to speak after the embarrassing loss by a team official and as the tough questions piled on the politically correctness, and tongue-biting disappeared. Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 6 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 22 Feb. 2025.

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