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Glite Dictionary
pyramiding

pyramiding

1 9.9
A plan where people add sellers who buy from each other so prices rise and people lose money
  • noun
  • /ˈpɪrəˌmɪdɪŋ/
translation icon : piramidación
  • Many consumers fell victim to the pyramiding scheme, where each new member had to pay higher prices to those above them in the distribution chain.
  • gene pyramiding

Examples

  • Investigators are looking into the pyramiding of products, which caused the retail prices to skyrocket unfairly.

  • These efforts, combined with Pastor-Corrales's pyramiding techniques, will help protect America's soybean and common bean industries from potentially devastating diseases.

    Academic text (2006)

  • With the passage of the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the floodgates opened not only for the securitization of mortgages but also for the pyramiding of derivatives on top of them.

    Academic text (2009)

  • "Gene pyramiding makes it possible to breed varieties with extremely broad resistance to all strains of certain highly variable pathogens, such as those that cause rust, BCM, and BCMN," says Pastor-Corrales.

    Academic text (2006)

  • To create disease-resistant beans, Pastor-Corrales identifies resistance genes in existing plants, then isolates and combines those genes in a process called "gene pyramiding." Some commercial bean varieties contain one or two disease-resistance genes.

    Academic text (2006)

  • "There are now two known genes for root-knot nematode resistance in grapes, and it may be possible to breed both genes into the same rootstock—a technique known as 'pyramiding,'" says Boyden.

    Academic text (2006)

  • The company's pyramiding strategy involved recruiting new distributors who would sell products at inflated prices to each other.

Synonyms

pyramid scheme
vspyramiding
10 8.5

A dishonest plan where people pay to join and only earn money by recruiting others, not by selling things

focuses on expanding seller chains where participants resell at increasing prices

Surface Forms

pyramiding singular
pyramidings plural

Morphology

pyramiding = pyramid (semi-transparent) = pyramid + ing

Formed by adding -ing to the verb 'pyramid'; the financial/fraud meaning is a specialized metaphorical extension that may not be obvious to learners who only know the geometric sense.

Etymology

The word pyramiding comes from the image of a pyramid — a 'wide base' holding a small top — and the -ing shows the action. It describes the practice of adding new levels of sellers so the few people at the top get most of the money while many below lose out, which is why pyramiding is often linked to fraud.