What does "stack" mean?
A pile.; A large pile of hay, grain, straw, or the like, larger at the bottom than the top, sometimes covered with thatch.
Stack
/stæk/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A pile.; A large pile of hay, grain, straw, or the like, larger at the bottom than the top, sometimes covered with thatch.
- Grammar: stack is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: heap, pile, abundance, accumulate.
- Useful contrasts: FIFO structure, heap, heaps.
- Usage evidence: Only one stack had a real bill on top.
How to use "stack"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "stack" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "stack" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "stack" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "stack" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "stack" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "heap" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "stack", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A pile.; A large pile of hay, grain, straw, or the like, larger at the bottom than the top, sometimes covered with thatch.
"But corn was housed, and beans were in the stack."
- 2 a storage device that handles data so that the next item to be retrieved is the item most recently stored (LIFO) wordnet
- 3 A pile.; A pile of similar objects, each directly on top of the last.
"Please bring me a chair from that stack in the corner."
- 4 a large tall chimney through which combustion gases and smoke can be evacuated wordnet
- 5 A pile.; A pile of poles or wood, indefinite in quantity. UK
"There was againſt euery Pillar, a Stacke of Billets, aboue a Mans Height;"
Show 22 more definitions
- 6 a list in which the next item to be removed is the item most recently stored (LIFO) wordnet
- 7 A pile.; A pile of wood containing 108 cubic feet. (~3 m³)
- 8 an orderly pile wordnet
- 9 A pile.; An extensive collection
"She performed appallingly on standard neurological tests, which are, as Sacks perceptively notes, specifically designed to deconstruct the whole person into a stack of 'abilities'."
- 10 (often followed by ‘of’) a large number or amount or extent wordnet
- 11 A smokestack.
"With just the turn of a shoulder she indicated the water front, where, at the end of the dock on which they stood, lay the good ship, Mount Vernon, river packet, the black smoke already pouring from her stacks."
- 12 In computing.; A linear data structure in which items inserted are removed in reverse order (the last item inserted is the first one to be removed).
- 13 In computing.; A stack data structure stored in main memory that is manipulated during machine language procedure call related instructions. often, with-definite-article
"When the microprocessor decodes the JSR opcode, it stores the operand into the TEMP register and pushes the current contents of the PC ($00 0128) onto the stack."
- 14 In computing.; An implementation of a protocol suite (set of protocols forming a layered architecture).
"A TCP/IP stack is a library or set of libraries or of OS drivers that take care of networking."
- 15 In computing.; A combination of interdependent, yet individually replaceable, software components or technologies used together on a system.
"A Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP (LAMP) stack is a configuration of four popular products for hosting websites."
- 16 A generalization of schemes in algebraic geometry and of sheaves.
- 17 A coastal landform, consisting of a large vertical column of rock in the sea.
- 18 Compactly spaced bookshelves used to house large collections of books.
"You took me to your library and kissed me in the stacks."
- 19 A large amount of an object. figuratively
"They paid him a stack of money to keep quiet."
- 20 A pile of rifles or muskets in a cone shape.
- 21 The amount of money a player has on the table.
- 22 In architecture.; A number of flues embodied in one structure, rising above the roof.
- 23 In architecture.; A vertical drainpipe.
- 24 A fall or crash, a prang. Australia, slang
""You've got to go all out in a race or you don't get a good time," he said. "But going all out means that you have a few stacks.""
- 25 A blend of various dietary supplements or anabolic steroids with supposed synergistic benefits.
- 26 A holding pattern, with aircraft circling one above the other as they wait to land.
- 27 The quantity of a given item which fills up an inventory slot or bag.
"I've got 107 Golden Branches, but the stack size is 20 so they're taking up 6 spaces in my inventory."
Verb
- 1 To arrange in a stack, or to add to an existing stack. transitive
"Please stack those chairs in the corner."
- 2 arrange the order of so as to increase one's winning chances wordnet
- 3 To arrange the cards in a deck in a particular manner, especially for cheating. transitive
"This is the third hand in a row where you've drawn four of a kind. Someone is stacking the deck!"
- 4 arrange in stacks wordnet
- 5 To arrange or fix to obtain an advantage; to deliberately distort the composition of (an assembly, committee, etc.). broadly, transitive
"to be stacked against (someone)"
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 load or cover with stacks wordnet
- 7 To take all the money another player currently has on the table. transitive
"I won Jill's last $100 this hand; I stacked her!"
- 8 To crash; to fall. Australia, US, slang, transitive
"Jim couldn't make it today as he stacked his car on the weekend."
- 9 To operate cumulatively.
"A magical widget will double your mojo. And yes, they do stack: if you manage to get two magical widgets, your mojo will be quadrupled. With three, it will be octupled, and so forth."
- 10 To place (aircraft) into a holding pattern. transitive
- 11 To collect precious metal in the form of various small objects such as coins and bars. informal, intransitive
- 12 To have excessive ink transfer.
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Example
"Only one stack had a real bill on top."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "stack"?
Common synonyms include: heap, pile, abundance, accumulate, accumulated, accumulation.
How do you use "stack" in a sentence?
Only one stack had a real bill on top.
How do you pronounce "stack"?
Pronounced /stæk/.
Etymology
From Middle English stack, stacke, stakke, stak, from Old Norse stakkr (“a barn; haystack; heap; pile”), from Proto-Germanic *stakkaz (“a barn; rick; haystack”). The data structure sense is a calque of Dutch stapel, introduced by Edsger W. Dijkstra. Cognate with Icelandic stakkur (“stack”), Swedish stack (“stack”), Danish stak (“stack”), Norwegian stakk (“stack”). Related to stake and sauna.