1
as in applied
to put a layer of on a surface
she lays the butter on so thickly that you hardly taste the bagel
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in employed
chiefly British
to provide with a paying job
lay on more staff for the busy tourist season in the Lake District
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for laid on
Verb
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New Orleans has long been notorious for embracing such scoundrels, a reputation that isn’t exactly helped by the fact that, for many years, disgraced attorneys who lost their licenses in Louisiana and applied for readmission to the bar often got it.—
Patrick Radden Keefe,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026 -
Expanding state powers to intervene earlier could prevent future attacks, but critics warn that preemptive restrictions risk undermining civil liberties — particularly when applied to young people.—
Inaya Folarin Iman,
CBS News,
13 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The Hornets’ starting lineup also boasts the highest offensive rating among all starting lineups, per the NBA’s advanced stats — and that group, in fact, has the highest offensive rating of all lineups employed across the NBA that have logged at least 172 minutes together.—
Alex Zietlow,
Charlotte Observer,
15 Apr. 2026
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Witzburg, who is set to leave office later this month as her term expires, declined to identify the staffer or the mayoral administration that employed them.—
Jake Sheridan,
Chicago Tribune,
15 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Phoenix spreads over a whopping 517 square miles, and that’s not even including adjacent towns like Scottsdale and Tempe.—
Chris Malloy,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
14 Apr. 2026
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The Thirty Years’ War, which was concluded by the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648, spread across mainland Europe and killed some eight million people.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Athena's parents, Jacob Strand and Maitlyn Gandy, then filed a lawsuit against Horner and the contractor who hired him, per NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth.—
Samantha Stutsman,
PEOPLE,
18 Apr. 2026
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But evidence is mounting that applicants with questionable histories were either not fully vetted before they were brought on or were hired in spite of their past, an investigation by The Associated Press found.—
Ryan J. Foley,
Chicago Tribune,
17 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The country has sporadically attacked ships in and around the Persian Gulf and may have laid mines to deter shipowners and crews from attempting to traverse the narrow waterway.—
Angela Cullen,
Fortune,
11 Apr. 2026
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At a ceremony in 2021, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó laid the foundation stone of the new terminal.—
Christian Edwards,
CNN Money,
11 Apr. 2026
Verb
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In New Orleans, one of the earliest slammers was a jovial fellow named Damian Labeaud, who, starting in 2010, recruited passengers from the local community with the promise of insurance payouts, then took them hunting on the freeway for a truck.—
Patrick Radden Keefe,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
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In the film, middle school teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) is recruited to help save Earth because of his history as a cell biologist with some iconoclastic ideas about life in the universe.—
Tara Haelle,
NPR,
12 Apr. 2026
Verb
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At the start of the short, paved trail, the green slopes appear smeared with vague suggestions of ocher and mauve.—
Alissa Greenberg,
Mercury News,
13 Apr. 2026
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One of the men smeared our foreheads with sandalwood paste, vermilion, and rice.—
Elizabeth Cantrell,
Travel + Leisure,
7 Apr. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Laid on.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/laid%20on. Accessed 20 Apr. 2026.
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