How to Use lay in a Sentence

lay

1 of 3 verb

• So who gets to lay claim to what?
  — Adam Graham, Boston Herald, 4 June 2026
• So the port’s two dry docks lay idle.
  — Carl Nolte, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 Mar. 2026
• And these guys laid it all on the line.
  — ABC News, 22 Mar. 2026
• Drink now or lay it down for up to a decade.
  — Mike Desimone, Robb Report, 23 Oct. 2025
• Healthy hens are able to lay an egg about once a day.
  — Michele Laufik, Martha Stewart, 8 Jan. 2026
• Maurice laid his spoon close in.
  — Ben East, Outdoor Life, 28 Aug. 2025
• Abe laid a wreath in honor of the dead.
  — Dallas Morning News, 19 Mar. 2026
• Flowers had been laid next to one such spot.
  — Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 20 June 2026
• Summer leagues were more laid back.
  — Doug Ross, Chicago Tribune, 16 Feb. 2026
• The bald eagle laid the pair of eggs last week.
  — Matthew Rodriguez, CBS News, 31 Jan. 2026
• Give a bird a habitat to make a nest and lay eggs.
  — Markis Hill, Kansas City Star, 15 Mar. 2026
• He was laid to rest on June 11.
  — Daniela Avila, PEOPLE, 25 Sep. 2025
• Wreaths were also laid when the event came to a close.
  — Janine Henni, PEOPLE, 25 Apr. 2026
• His friends told him to lay low and avoid the outdoors.
  — Faith Karimi, CNN Money, 18 Oct. 2025
• But the case laid bare a stark divide on the high court.
  — Kevin Rector, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2026
• The floors were laid with black-and-white limestone tiles.
  — Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 20 June 2026
• She will be laid to rest on Friday.
  — Laura Bauer, Kansas City Star, 26 Mar. 2026
• This would be the easiest part of the job to lay aside.
  — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 22 Mar. 2026
• But each laid a foundation for the next.
  — Matt Robison, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 Sep. 2025
• The pair laid a second clutch with two eggs weeks later.
  — Cierra Morgan, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2026
• The rest of her remains will be laid to rest with her husband.
  — Dakin Andone, CNN Money, 10 Sep. 2025
• Here’s how to lay the foundation for a house well built.
  — Richard Olsen, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
• So, the plan was laid to dig a big hole the next morning and bury the whole fridge.
  — Corky Carroll, Oc Register, 25 Apr. 2026
• This episode really needs to get laid.
  — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025
• They can be laid flat or half-buried to form a solid border edge.
  — Peg Aloi, The Spruce, 5 Feb. 2026
• As if by accident, her claws scratch the eggs flies have laid there.
  — María Ospina, The Dial, 31 Mar. 2026
• So did lay pastor Daniel Davis.
  — Tara Palmeri, Vanity Fair, 12 Jan. 2026
• That there is something in the self that will not fit a schema, that will not be laid bare.
  — Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2025
• Mason will be laid to rest on March 14.
  — CBS News, 3 Mar. 2026
• And there are special perks for those who come to lay their heads at the new hotel.
  — Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 11 Sep. 2025

lay

2 of 3 noun

• This was supposed to be a lay-up.
  — Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2025
• But his lay-in flew wildly out of his hands.
  — Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2026
• That is just the new lay of the land for these maps and for the legal landscape.
  — NBC news, 3 May 2026
• Jazzy Davidson hit a fast-break lay-in, drew a foul and made the free throw.
  — Los Angeles Times, 2 Mar. 2026
• Car seats, bed frames, drywall and much more lay discarded on the curb.
  — Alison Dirr, jsonline.com, 13 Aug. 2025
• Another great lay-up for the abstract fan.
  — Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 18 June 2026
• Yearwood is in town this week, a few board members told me, getting a lay of the land.
  — Krista Johnson, Louisville Courier Journal, 10 June 2025
• Behind us lie six months of intense work to get this ship out of lay-up, to train and to get to sea.
  — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 6 Nov. 2025
• Madrid fear the Brazil centre-back is facing a three-to-four-month lay-off.
  — Mario Cortegana, New York Times, 17 Dec. 2025
• Being able to rack up the miles and get a lay of your surroundings is a treat for every runner.
  — Chris Hachey, BGR, 25 June 2021
• This is supposed to be a lay-up for the lady whose last name is the same as the former president.
  — Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 10 Feb. 2026
• One of the biggest highlights was his steal, a reverse lay-up in transition, plus a foul.
  — Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 11 Oct. 2025
• Adebayo drove hard for a lay-in and was fouled for a three-point play for 70 points early in fourth quarter.
  — Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel, 11 Mar. 2026
• Candice took us to the west, the prettier side of the compound, where the maze lay, and the gardens and pond.
  — Literary Hub, 24 June 2025
• For centuries, an ancient fortress lay buried beneath Egypt’s shifting sand dunes.
  — Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 17 Oct. 2025
• So number one, get a lay of the land; understand the county, state and local taxes.
  — CBS News, 29 Apr. 2022
• Jey instead hit a third Uso Splash for a nearfall as Oba lay wounded.
  — Alfred Konuwa, Forbes.com, 27 June 2026
• Either on your own or with a professional landscape designer, take the time to get the lay of your land.
  — Mike Irvine, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Oct. 2025
• Only a person with the confidence of a woman who has just had a good lay could attempt and succeed at such a feat.
  — Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 20 July 2021
• Everything here was holding, and we were set up with a hose lay and engines pumping water from either end.
  — Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 June 2025
• Those 14 goals in the final 13 games raised hopes that more of the same lay ahead in League One.
  — Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 26 June 2026
• Fielder opened overtime with an easy lay-up, and a pair of Buchanan free throws gave the Broncos a three-point lead.
  — Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman, 14 Feb. 2026
• Along the way, Garcia detailed the lay of the pond and where the ducks would likely be based on the wind direction.
  — Scott Haugen, Outdoor Life, 18 Dec. 2025
• Eight of Wembanyama’s 11 baskets were either lay-ups or dunks.
  — Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 9 June 2026
• Its lay-flat, accordion-style design is easy to pack and provides ample room for travel-sized products.
  — Amelia McBride, Travel + Leisure, 13 May 2026
• The long lay-off also ended his dreams of playing for England at the World Cup.
  — Simon Johnson, New York Times, 1 Jan. 2026
• Read on to get the lay of the postpartum land, according to science, doctors, and moms themselves.
  — Erica Sloan, SELF, 15 Jan. 2026
• Shepherd gives me the lay of the clubland, explaining that there are three unique stages, each with its own sonic identity.
  — Cassidy George, Rolling Stone, 22 Feb. 2023
• The Knicks are now tasked with weighing rest and preparation during their long lay-off between series.
  — Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 13 May 2026
• Get a lay of the land aboard the town’s free gondola, which lifts riders 1,750 feet above the valley floor.
  — Ryan Haase, WSJ, 13 May 2021

lay

3 of 3 adjective

• The agency says the tests should be easy enough for a lay person to use and interpret at home.
  — Brianna Abbott, WSJ, 14 Dec. 2020
• To a lay person, the pixel-ly blobs in shades of orange may not look too impressive.
  — Keith Matheny, Freep.com, 11 Dec. 2025
• They were replaced by lay staff who expect better pay and benefits.
  — Los Angeles Times, 3 Jan. 2021
• In lay terms, Eric can't move anything from the bottom of his pectoral muscles down.
  — cincinnati.com, 11 Aug. 2022
• Bishops are called to their lay role on a temporary basis, typically for around five years.
  — Kim Raff, ProPublica, 2 Dec. 2021
• But for a lay person who's not a lawyer, what are the constraints, in your view, on your upcoming testimony?
  — CBS News, 23 Apr. 2023
• Consider a lay-flat pad, like the Therm-a-Rest Z Lite Sol.
  — Emily Pennington, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Mar. 2025
• In lay terms, that means the court's ruling is not based on whether the judge approves or disapproves of what Comb's is accused of.
  — ABC News, 15 June 2026
• And frankly, even as a lay person, looking at the signatures, Eric did not sign that document.
  — Natalie Morales, CBS News, 24 May 2026
• Some of his greatest feats may not even register with lay listeners, even as a vague intimation or emotion.
  — New York Times, 11 Mar. 2021
• Kim Connor, a lay leader at the church, has been a member of the congregation for 25 years.
  — Dallas News, 4 Apr. 2021
• Yet, even as Aleys’s world begins to change with the rise of lay literacy, those lay people are almost entirely men.
  — Los Angeles Times, 5 Feb. 2026
• Then Thompson Powell decided to go to seminary to become a lay leader at a church.
  — Myrna Petlicki, chicagotribune.com, 24 Aug. 2021
• The meaning is not something that a lay person can necessarily intuit.
  — John E. Jones Iii, The Conversation, 5 Sep. 2025
• This is suspected by one of the lay sisters in the convent, so Gertrude and Egidio murder the woman and bury her somewhere nearby.
  — Joan Acocella, The New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2022
• Who writes especially well about philosophy for a lay audience?
  — New York Times, 30 Mar. 2023
• In lay terms, what this means is that people who deposited money with Celsius to reap its famously high returns can’t, for the time being, get it out.
  — Steven Zeitchik, Washington Post, 13 June 2022
• Both memoirs prepare the lay gambler for a world of gruelling, bruising defeats and unglamorous back-of-the-envelope calculus.
  — Dan Piepenbring, New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2026
• There is Muslim representation on the group's advisory board of lay leaders.
  — Karissa Waddick, USA Today, 9 Mar. 2026
• Most importantly, the Scottish leather seats convert into lay-flat beds with cushioned headboards, pillows, linens, and a duvet.
  — Elizabeth Brownfield, Forbes.com, 26 Aug. 2025
• The lay leader of the local congregation confirmed Wednesday that Robertson lived alone within his ward boundaries.
  — Kolbie Peterson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 9 Aug. 2023
• More buttons fold the seats flat, either individually or all together, creating a cavernous lay-flat cargo area.
  — Jonathan M. Gitlin, ArsTechnica, 11 May 2026
• Do, a lay leader and head of the diocese’s Vietnamese committee, fled Vietnam as a teenager in 1975.
  — San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 June 2022
• However, lay reading is not the way that people have, historically speaking, interfaced with the classics.
  — Literary Hub, 26 May 2026
• More than half of the country’s 27 Jesuit colleges and universities are now run by lay presidents, several of them women.
  — Emily Bobrow, WSJ, 15 July 2022
• It is being used by a variety of community groups, including lay individuals.
  — Alexander Tin, CBS News, 15 Feb. 2023
• Its generous paddeding, cushion-back design, and lay-flat sleeper feature provide both comfort and practicality.
  — Elizabeth Fogarty, Better Homes & Gardens, 18 Aug. 2025
• According to the church’s constitution, a lay vote is held to select the top three bishops and then the Holy Synod holds its own secret ballot to elect the new archbishop.
  — Arkansas Online, 25 Dec. 2022
• For the benefit of the lay people in the audience, Ma provided a handy definition of what exactly Web3 is.
  — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 15 Mar. 2023
• The therapist worked as a plot engine, because everyone’s lay idea of therapy is having a problem and addressing it and solving it, which hews really well to the format of a sitcom.
  — The New Yorker, 12 July 2023