Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
sandpile

sandpile

1 1.7
A pile of sand where children play, like in a playground
  • noun
  • /ˈsændˌpaɪl/
translation icon : montón de arena
  • One day - it must have been after that - he caught a green frog in the hollow of a tree and placed it in the hollow of his sandpile bucket... the very pail he held now on his breast...

Examples

  • That bloody sandpile is finally going the way of the swing set.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • I left sensitivity back in the sandpile.

    Flawless (1999)

  • Cover that sandpile with the tarp in the trailer.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • I wanted to get as far away as I could and jump into one of those water puddles they have by the sandpiles.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The sandpile was frozen.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Ray raised the rebar over his head and smashed through the ice in the top of one of the two fifty-five-gallon drums of water that stood between the mixer and the sandpile.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Self-organization, for example, is often explained using Bak's sandpile and its avalanches (both Keller 2005 and Levin 2005 invoke this image).

    Academic text (2005)

  • Duck Brightweiser sat in his Ram pickup with the window down, watching Yo Ray start a fire with pieces of a brick pallet and a Portland cement sack and then kick the fire into the culvert pipe that ran through the base of the sandpile.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • It is analogous to a fire hose directed against a large pile of sand, which produces a cavity of water and sand that expands and advances into the sandpile as long as the hose is turned on.

    Academic text (1992)

  • The children spent the afternoon playing in the sandpile at the park.

Synonyms

sandbox
vssandpile
19 1.0

A low box of sand where children play and build castles

is a loose heap of sand used for play rather than a container
sandpit
vssandpile
  • UK
1 1.0

A shallow area filled with sand where children play

is a loose heap of sand used for play rather than a shallow area

How Big

dune
69 2.7
sandpile
1 1.7
handful
81 1.0
grain
73 1.0

Surface Forms

sandpile singular
sandpiles plural

Morphology

sandpile = sand + pile (transparent) = sand + pile

A straightforward compound of the two common nouns 'sand' and 'pile' whose meanings combine directly to denote a pile of sand.

Etymology

The word sandpile is made from sand and pile, literally meaning 'a pile of sand'. Think of children making little hills and castles in a sandbox, which is exactly what a sandpile usually is.