pile on

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pile on

verb piles on · piling on · piled on

ambitransitive To jump on top of someone or something quickly. As football linebackers pile on a quarterback in a blitz, the newspaper editorialist heaped sarcasm onto the president.
ambitransitive, figuratively To criticize someone or something in a concerted effort; to add on some additional critique. OK, OK, they've already gotten the constructive criticism. Now you're just piling on.
figuratively, intransitive To unnecessarily extend the margin of a winning score.
informal, transitive To add or apply in great quantities.

noun pile ons

nonstandard Nonstandard spelling of pile-on

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MLA

"pile on." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/pile%20on. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

pile on. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/pile%20on

Chicago

"pile on." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/pile%20on.

BibTeX

@misc{pile_on_2026,
  title = {pile on},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/pile%20on},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}