array

verb

ar·​ray ə-ˈrā 

arrayed; arraying; arrays

transitive verb

1

: to dress or decorate especially in splendid or impressive attire : adorn

… he had already arrayed himself in his best clothes.

—Thomas Hardy

2

a

: to set or place in order : draw up, marshal

the forces arrayed against us

b

: to set or set forth in order (something, such as a jury) for the trial of a cause

3

: to arrange or display in or as if in an array

The … data are arrayed in descending order.

—Ed Burnett

arrayer noun

Synonyms of array

• adorn
• decorate
• drape
• deck

Examples of array in a Sentence

She arrayed herself in rich velvets and satins.

a door arrayed for the holidays with a beautiful evergreen wreath

Recent Examples on the Web

There are index cards arrayed on most horizontal surfaces and some vertical ones—some for his next novel, some for his next movie project for Universal. —Darryn King, Vanity Fair, 19 May 2026

Such systems tend to need large power supplies, cooling gear, and antenna arrays, which could explain the large roof structures. —Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 16 May 2026

The approach combines large qubit arrays, flexible qubit connectivity, lower costs and a plausible roadmap to hundreds or thousands of logical qubits requiring simpler fabrication than some competing modalities. —Karl Freund, Forbes.com, 14 May 2026

The two mothers stood together, eight small caskets arrayed in a semicircle before them. —Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Washington Post, 9 May 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English arayen, arrayen "to put in order, prepare, marshal (troops), equip, adorn," borrowed from Anglo-French arraier, arreyer, aroier "to arrange, order, marshal, set in order (a jury, assize), equip, attire, adorn" (continental Old French areer), going back to Vulgar Latin *arrēdāre, from Latin ad- ad- + Vulgar Latin *-rēdāre, in *conrēdāre, presumed adaptation of Gothic garedan "to make provision for" — more at curry entry 1

Note: The forms arrai-, aroi- presumably represent generalizations of the tonic stem of areer. The verb *arrēdāre is common to most Romance languages: Old Occitan arezar "to put in order," Catalan arrear "to provide," Spanish, "to adorn, decorate," Italian arredare "to furnish, equip."

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for array

• airway
• allay
• archway
• ashtray
• assez
• astray
• aue
• away
• ballet
• belay
• beltway
• beret

Kids Definition

array

1 of 2 verb

ar·​ray ə-ˈrā 

1

: to set in order : draw up

soldiers arrayed for review

2

: to dress especially in fine clothing : adorn

arrayer noun

array

2 of 2 noun

1

: regular order or arrangement

also : persons (as troops) in array

2

: rich or beautiful clothing

3

: an impressive group : large number

a whole array of problems

also : variety sense 2, assortment

4

: a group of mathematical elements (as numbers or letters) arranged in rows and columns

Legal Definition

array

1 of 2 transitive verb

ar·​ray ə-ˈrā 

: to set (a jury) for trial

specifically : to set (a jury) by calling out the names of the jurors one at a time compare impanel

array

2 of 2 noun

: the group of people summoned to serve as jurors from which the jury will be chosen

also : a list of the jurors' names see also challenge to the array at challenge compare venire