How to Use pileup in a Sentence

pileup

noun
  • A five-car pileup slowed traffic.
  • There’s a bit of a pileup here in a battle for the third spot.
    Brice Paterik, Dallas News, 5 Aug. 2021
  • The bigger the pileup on the side of the interstate, the better.
    Washington Post, 24 Mar. 2021
  • But that could lead to a pileup of tours in search of new dates in the fall or even next year.
    Ben Sisario, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2020
  • Aerial video of the scene shows tens of train cars piled up with flames and a large plume of black smoke rising up from the front of the pileup.
    Amber Mohmand, USA TODAY, 17 May 2021
  • The delay was caused by a red flag following a rare pit-late pileup on the 14th lap.
    Jim Ayello, The Indianapolis Star, 6 July 2020
  • That led to a massive 10-race pileup and the red flag was out for roughly 20 minutes.
    Dan Gelston, ajc, 9 Aug. 2021
  • Mullen reached in and appeared to take the ball away from Bandy before a pileup ensued.
    José M. Romero, The Arizona Republic, 28 Nov. 2022
  • Seguin’s slapper was the first power-play goal of training camp that wasn’t a tip or pileup at the net.
    Matthew Defranks, Dallas News, 24 July 2020
  • The crash led to a 28-car pileup that left four dead, the Lakewood Police Department said at the time.
    Amir Vera and Raja Razek, CNN, 30 Dec. 2021
  • That led to a pileup of around 100 planes by the end of April, many of which Boeing had hoped to deliver by year-end.
    Andrew Tangel, WSJ, 13 July 2021
  • Tour de France teams have asked fans to behave better after a mass pileup in the 15th stage.
    USA TODAY, 17 July 2023
  • The studio may have been trying to avoid the pileup of scary movies on schedule around Halloween.
    Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 31 July 2023
  • In Ohio, dozens of vehicles were involved in a pileup that killed at least 4.
    Joel Shannon, USA TODAY, 24 Dec. 2022
  • The pileup of issues is a concern likely to prey on the minds of Twitter’s investors.
    Wired, 12 July 2022
  • Give them the wheel and you are bound to crash, and likely incite a pileup on the nearest interstate.
    Ellevate, Forbes, 14 June 2021
  • Be sure to start the day with an empty dishwasher so guests can load their own dishes to avoid a pileup in the sink.
    Emily Vanschmus, Better Homes & Gardens, 9 Aug. 2023
  • Yet at the show’s start, the novelty factor was dulled by a pileup of young acts doing soft rock.
    Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 15 Mar. 2021
  • But up ahead, a four-car pileup was snarling traffic more than usual.
    New York Times, 19 Apr. 2021
  • But in the film’s brisk screen progress, the pileup of left-field plot developments soon becomes overkill.
    Dennis Harvey, Variety, 3 Mar. 2022
  • Photos and video of the slide showed a pileup of trees, dirt and debris that broke away from the steep slope above the road and crossed into the water below.
    Nathaniel Herz, Anchorage Daily News, 8 May 2022
  • The pileup left 24 people injured, in addition to the six deaths.
    Talal Ansari, WSJ, 30 Mar. 2022
  • And the next time through the turn, seven more cars were involved in the pileup bringing out another red flag.
    Michael Marot, ajc, 16 Aug. 2021
  • Cruz’s injury, to his thumb, was fluky; McCloud’s leg was mangled in a pileup.
    Michael Lev, The Arizona Republic, 5 Aug. 2022
  • The state’s week of weather hell started with a deadly 133-car pileup outside of Fort Worth.
    Dallas News, 18 Feb. 2021
  • Photos showed a black pickup truck on top of a massive pileup.
    Kathryn Prociv, NBC News, 24 Dec. 2022
  • Nonetheless, amid the pileup, Trump did manage to score some yardage.
    Willie Brown, SFChronicle.com, 11 July 2020
  • But consulates have in recent weeks been flooded with such requests, adding to the pileup.
    New York Times, 15 Oct. 2021
  • Rice is currently facing charges for a March hit-and-run crash in Dallas where his Lamborghini crashed into his friend’s Corvette while driving 119 mph, leading to a six-car pileup and at least four injuries.
    David Matthews, New York Daily News, 7 May 2024
  • Advertisement A week ago on the southern route, a harrowing human traffic jam left dozens of climbers shuffling in single file along a narrow ridge just below the summit — a pileup that turned deadly when a snow cornice collapsed beneath their feet.
    Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pileup.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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