stockpile
/ˈstɒkpʌɪl
/noun
A large accumulated stock of goods or materials, especially one held in reserve for use at a time of shortage or other emergency: a stockpile of sandbags was being prepared a stockpile of nuclear weapons...
- America would provide a safer form of atomic energy to prevent the production of a growing stockpile of nuclear weapons material.
- No relief for prices after the Department of Energy said refiners can borrow oil from the nation's emergency stockpiles.
- Over the next ten years both sides will reduce their operational stockpiles of nuclear weapons to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads each.
Synonyms
stock, store, supply, accumulation, collection, reserve, hoard, cache;
bank, pool, fund, mine, reservoir;
arsenal
rare amassment
verb [with object]
Accumulate a large stock of (goods or materials): he claimed that the weapons were being stockpiled...
- Aid agencies are stockpiling food, tents and medical supplies in the Middle East in anticipation of up to one million refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries.
- It can also be revealed that the Department of Health is considering stockpiling the same vaccine for use on civilians in the event of an attempt to spread the plague in the UK.
- The UNHCR and the International Committee of the Red Cross are stockpiling materials in the region.
Synonyms
store up, amass, accumulate, hoard, cache, collect, gather, pile up, heap up, lay in, put away, put/set aside, put down, put by, put away for a rainy day, stow away, keep, keep in reserve, save
informal squirrel away, salt away, stash away
Derivatives
stockpiler
- Capricorns aren't pack rats; you're stockpilers.
- He's a born stockpiler.
- It's about the US itself - that great stockpiler, developer and user of chemical and biological weapons.