as in piles
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 cairns
The Park Service recommends that people not disturb, knock down or add to cairns, though some parks caution visitors not to rely on them as official pathways.
—
Noah Lyons, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Jan. 2026
Above the glacial lake Ullswater, prehistoric cairns and burial mounds dot the high moorland, including the Cockpit Stone Circle, which spans 90 feet.
—Andrea Bussell, Travel + Leisure, 27 Dec. 2025
Found around the perimeter ring, there are six additional cairns.
—Mike Bezemek, Outside, 29 Oct. 2025
Noah Lyons, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Jan. 2026
Above the glacial lake Ullswater, prehistoric cairns and burial mounds dot the high moorland, including the Cockpit Stone Circle, which spans 90 feet.
—Andrea Bussell, Travel + Leisure, 27 Dec. 2025
Found around the perimeter ring, there are six additional cairns.
—Mike Bezemek, Outside, 29 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cairns
Noun
-
Night after night after closing his Boyle Heights bicycle shop, Reyes brought his equipment down the long, dark corridor leading to the bikes — initially about 280 of them — that were tossed in piles over the years.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
1 May 2026
-
An hour later, the device designed to plunge as deep as 4,000 meters is gliding over piles of round pitchers on the sea floor.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
While their mounds can be unsightly in lawns, the ants do not sting.—
Mary Marlowe Leverette,
Southern Living,
23 Apr. 2026
-
Stale ashtrays and spittoons were everywhere, along with wastebaskets surrounded by mounds of misaimed and crumpled papers.—
Business Columnist,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The furniture is flanked by hundreds of jazz and classical CDs in tidy, towering racks, along with stacks of books and magazines.—
Daniel Cassady,
ARTnews.com,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Snowflake and Databricks all have their own semantic layer offerings baked into stacks enterprises are already paying for.—
Lily Mae Lazarus,
Fortune,
23 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Uncollected garbage rotted in heaps, and people cued outside of bakeries for their daily government ration of bread.—
Kate Linthicum,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Apr. 2026
-
But don't be deceived by the small-town charm—there's plenty to do here, with historic downtowns full of unique shops, heaps of Southern comfort food, and 80,000 acres of wildlife areas to explore by kayak, bike, and boat.—
Amanda Ogle,
Travel + Leisure,
16 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cairns.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cairns. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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