A mound is a rounded pile or hill of something, usually earth, dirt, or other materials heaped up above the surrounding ground. You might see a mound of snow in winter, a mound of sand at the beach, or even a mound of mashed potatoes on your dinner plate.

In baseball, the pitcher's mound is the raised circle of dirt in the center of the diamond where the pitcher stands. It sits about ten inches higher than the rest of the field, giving pitchers a slight advantage when throwing toward home plate.

Throughout history, people built mounds for important purposes. Native American peoples constructed massive earthen mounds across North America, some as burial sites and others as ceremonial platforms. The famous Cahokia Mounds in Illinois include Monks Mound, which covers fourteen acres and rises a hundred feet high. Ancient cultures worldwide, from the burial mounds of European tribes to the pyramidal mounds of Central America, shaped earth into lasting monuments.

The word can describe natural formations too. Prairie dogs and ants both create mounds of excavated dirt around their underground colonies. A mound of blankets on your bed or a mound of laundry waiting to be folded both use the word to suggest a large, rounded pile of something.