lexicow

pile up

/ˌpaɪl ˈʌp//ˌpaɪl ˈʌp/·phrasal verb
One plate goes into the sink, then a bowl beside it, then a mug, a pan, a glass — none rinsed, none squared up. The bottom fills first, edge to edge, dish jammed against dish until there is no white left in the basin; only then do they start going on top, leaning every way, a fork jutting out, a cup perched where it shouldn't be. I keep meaning to deal with it, and the meaning-to never quite becomes the doing, so it climbs until the basin is full and the heap rises over the rim. What should have been a five-minute job is now a thing I dread walking past.
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Definition

To pile up is to accumulate into a heap — and, more often than not, an unwelcome one. It is the informal, faintly dreading cousin of accumulate: dishes, laundry, debts, unanswered emails and traffic all pile up, usually faster than we deal with them. The phrasal verb carries a sense of disorder and excess — of things mounting past the point of comfort — which is why the noun 'pile-up' can mean a motorway crash as readily as a backlog of work.

Examples

  • After a week away, unanswered messages had piled up faster than she could deplete the backlog.
  • Dishes pile up in the sink whenever the chores are left to build up over the weekend.
  • If small tasks pile up unaddressed, even a diligent worker can fall behind.

Collocations

debts pile up·work piles up·dishes pile up·a pile-up on the motorway·pile up quickly

Synonyms

accumulate·build up·amass·mount·stack up

Antonyms

clear·disperse·diminish

See also

Word family

pile-up (noun)·piled-up (adjective)

In TOEFL & IELTS

An informal, high-frequency phrasal verb that shines in speaking — 'work/emails/dishes pile up' — and carries a clear note of unwanted excess. The noun 'pile-up' means a multi-vehicle crash. Keep the nuance against accumulate (neutral, often passive) and collect (deliberate, orderly): pile up is the disorderly, dreaded version, things heaping past the point of comfort.