laid down

verb

past tense of lay down
1
as in enacted
to put into effect through legislative or authoritative action the city council promises to lay down new ordinances that will force dog walkers to clean up after their animals

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in declared
to state clearly and strongly at the risk of their popularity, the parents laid down the rules for the party and wouldn't accept any arguments

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in specified
to give the rules about (something) clearly and exactly the supervisor laid down the procedure for a complaint of sexual harassment

Synonyms & Similar Words
4
as in relinquished
to give (something) over to the control or possession of another usually under duress commanded the surrounded troops to lay down their weapons

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for laid down
  1. enacted
  2. declared
  3. specified
  4. relinquished
  5. passed
  6. asserted
  7. defined
  8. rendered
Verb
  • Florida enacted new laws cracking down on miscreants in the treatment industry.
    — Teri Sforza, Oc Register, 5 July 2026
  • Passed as the second of three Reconstruction amendments, the 14th Amendment was enacted after the Civil War.
    — Ashley Mowreader, NBC news, 4 July 2026
Definition of enacted
Verb
  • The jury deliberated for about six hours on Monday and eight hours on Tuesday before the mistrial was declared.
    — Lillie Davidson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 July 2026
  • The driver of Ballard’s car was declared dead after they were brought to a hospital, and the passenger later died from their injuries, police said.
    — Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 7 July 2026
Definition of declared
Verb
  • The order threatens violators with confiscation, destruction of their devices and punishment (which are not specified).
    — Fatima Faizi, NPR, 10 July 2026
  • All inputs and outputs should be specified using concrete scenarios understood by both technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
    — Boris Berat, Forbes.com, 8 July 2026
Definition of specified
Verb
  • Briscoe came out of the pits with the lead with 42 laps to go and never relinquished it despite a strong push from Bell.
    — Steve Millar, Chicago Tribune, 6 July 2026
  • Willow Nightingale relinquished the championship in May due to a shoulder injury that also forced her out of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, leading AEW to create this match to crown a new champion.
    — Rob Wolkenbrod, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026
Definition of relinquished
Verb
  • San Luis Obispo passed from Spanish to Mexican rule after Mexico’s independence in 1821, and to American hands in 1848.
    — Michael Goldstein, Forbes.com, 11 July 2026
  • Days passed before a Deere technician could come to his farm and trace it to a faulty valve.
    — Natalie Kainz, NBC news, 10 July 2026
Definition of passed
Verb
  • In the period that elapsed between the shooting and when police officers searched Langs’ car, there was time for a gun to disappear, Lowthorp asserted.
    — Emerson Clarridge, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 July 2026
  • Education advocates have asserted that California schools are legally entitled to billions more under state law.
    — Jaweed Kaleem, Los Angeles Times, 9 July 2026
Definition of asserted
Verb
  • Size representation on the runway this season was defined by a more fragmented set of ideals.
    — Amy Francombe, Vogue, 6 July 2026
  • Remarkably, in a game defined by the South American team’s lack of sportsmanship, this became the first World Cup game in which a Paraguay player did not receive a yellow card since 1998.
    — Adam Crafton, New York Times, 5 July 2026
Definition of defined
Verb
  • The rain had rendered the dirt tracks we were meant to use … um, unusable.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 6 July 2026
  • The responding officers rendered first aid to the victims before they were taken to local hospitals.
    — Stacy Perman, Los Angeles Times, 5 July 2026
Definition of rendered
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

laid by
laid down
laid eyes on
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Laid down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/laid%20down. Accessed 11 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of xeric

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 10
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
banana-mirrored
Contradictory Words Quiz Pick out which word means one thing…and the opp...
See All