pileup

noun

pile·​up ˈpī(-ə)l-ˌəp 

1

: a collision involving usually several motor vehicles

2

a

: a jammed tangled mass or pile (as of motor vehicles or people) resulting from collision or accumulation

b

: accumulation

Synonyms

• accretion
• accumulation
• assemblage
• collection
• cumulation
• cumulus
• gathering
• lodgment
• lodgement

Examples of pileup in a Sentence

A five-car pileup slowed traffic.

a pileup of e-mail messages that needed to be dealt with

Recent Examples on the Web

The Eagles downed the punt in the end zone, leading to a chaotic pileup. —Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2024

Blizzard-like conditions could drop visibility to near zero, putting drivers at risk of multi-car pileups or drifting off the road, AccuWeather forecasters wrote. —Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA TODAY, 28 Nov. 2024

Eight people from the four-car pileup, including the 75-year-old man and 9-year-old child, were rushed to Elmhurst Hospital for emergency care. —Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 21 Nov. 2024

While Harrison Smith, Cam Bynum, Josh Metellus and Theo Jackson will surely make the 53-man, there’s a pileup behind them. —Alec Lewis, The Athletic, 21 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1900, in the meaning defined at sense 1