as in pile
a small quantity of stones heaped together that usually marks a place
A cairn of loose stones marked the site.
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Recent Examples of cairn
Young Hopi men traditionally descended the rugged Salt Trail to the Little Colorado and Sípàapuni, contributing rocks to a cairn that still stands along the route and gathering salt to bring home.
—
Brandon Loomis, AZCentral.com, 15 Dec. 2025
Adam picked up a stone to top off each cairn.
—Stephanie Danler, Condé Nast Traveler, 20 Nov. 2025
Found around the perimeter ring, there are six additional cairns.
—Mike Bezemek, Outside, 29 Oct. 2025
Stone cairns, serpentine walls, earthen mounds, balance rocks, ancient spring wells, and interesting stone enclosures have been identified as potential early cultural evidence of pre-European native use.
—Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 3 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for cairn
Brandon Loomis, AZCentral.com, 15 Dec. 2025
Adam picked up a stone to top off each cairn.
—Stephanie Danler, Condé Nast Traveler, 20 Nov. 2025
Found around the perimeter ring, there are six additional cairns.
—Mike Bezemek, Outside, 29 Oct. 2025
Stone cairns, serpentine walls, earthen mounds, balance rocks, ancient spring wells, and interesting stone enclosures have been identified as potential early cultural evidence of pre-European native use.
—Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 3 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for cairn
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cairn
Noun
-
Once the drone was hit by another drone, the soldiers walked over to retrieve both drones and added them to the pile of drones damaged in earlier training sessions.—
Eleanor Watson,
CBS News,
28 Apr. 2026
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Or a big pile of unclaimed brassieres?—
Christopher Bonanos,
Curbed,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
With the lights dimmed at Citi Field, Williams headed to the mound from the bullpen as called for by manager Carlos Mendoza, but Brazobán simultaneously walked from the dugout back to the mound.—
CBS New York Team,
CBS News,
24 Apr. 2026
-
Earlier this week, Fernando Mendoza took the mound at loanDepot park in a Marlins jersey.—
Noah White,
Miami Herald,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
To avoid straining, and therefore hemorrhoids, people can prop their feet up on stools or even stacks of old magazines to create more of a squatting position than sitting on toilets typically creates, Qureshi said.—
Kaitlin Sullivan,
NBC news,
29 Apr. 2026
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Once stacking is complete, a compression structure will apply downward precompression to the module stack.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
There are high-mountain hikes aplenty, and the team can help set up trips to religious events (if the times align) and visits to traditional nomad families to learn more about the local culture.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
25 Apr. 2026
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But, while watching the rugged coastline dip in and out of fjords and spiky mountains tumble down into the sea, magicians and musicals were far from my mind.—
Karen Gardiner,
Travel + Leisure,
25 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cairn.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cairn. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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