Meaning & use
pileups
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“pileups” is a form of “pileup”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nounplural
Crashes in which many vehicles run into one another, typically in a chain, often because of fog, ice or heavy traffic.
Grammar: Plural of pileup: three pileups happened, not a pileups.
Patterns
- multi-car pileups
- pileups on the highway
Dense fog caused several pileups on the motorway before dawn.
Icy roads led to two major pileups during the morning rush hour.
Engineers study how sudden braking creates pileups.
nounpluralinformal
Large accumulations of things, such as work, mail or snow, that have gathered up into heaps or backlogs.
Grammar: Plural form, used informally for backlogs: pileups of paperwork.
Patterns
- pileups of something
After the holiday there were pileups of unopened mail in the office.
Delays at the port caused pileups of containers waiting to be moved.
The storm left pileups of snow at the edge of every parking lot.
Common combinations
- multi-car pileups
- Multi-car pileups are common on foggy stretches of road.
- cause pileups
- Sudden braking can cause pileups on busy highways.
- deadly pileups
- Deadly pileups prompted the council to lower the speed limit.
- pileups on the highway
- Police warned of pileups on the highway after the snow.
- prevent pileups
- Better warning signs may prevent pileups in bad weather.
Synonyms and how they differ
- collisions
- It is a general word for any crash, while pileups means many vehicles involved in a chain.
- crashes
- It names accidents of any size and does not suggest a chain of cars.
- backlogs
- It fits the work sense better, because backlogs means tasks awaiting action, not physical heaps.
- tangles
- It evokes cars jumbled together after a crash and sounds more figurative.
Word family
Commonly confused: pileups or pile ups?
pileups vs pile ups
Written as two words, pile ups would be the verb with a s, as in a pile ups quickly, which is not a noun plural.
Practice
Heavy fog led to several ___ on the highway this morning.
Choose one answer.
Several needs a plural noun, so pileups fits. Pileup is singular, and the two-word versions are verb forms.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pileups”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.