1
as in to spread
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 to employ
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 lay on
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 -
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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Other sports franchises followed the Giants’ example, and dynamic pricing, which had already been employed by airlines and hotels, gradually became the norm in American sports.—
John Cassidy,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
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Data on dietary habits exists in a few cookbooks, but researchers have to employ highly specialized methods in order to glean what the status of their health was.—
Maria Mocerino,
Interesting Engineering,
19 Apr. 2026
Verb
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As of now, Imam has no plans to create a think tank or a second campus, even though those had seemed like good ideas when applying for the grant.—
Emma Green,
New Yorker,
17 Apr. 2026
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Students apply for it in their junior year, and are tasked with randomly choosing a decade to design head-turning fashion.—
Chris Wragge,
CBS News,
17 Apr. 2026
Verb
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During a Thursday hearing of the House Agriculture Committee, which oversees the CFTC, Selig said the agency was hiring new staff and operating more efficiently.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
17 Apr. 2026
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After a breakup, rudderless millennial Jane hires a team of Gen-Z consultants to reinvent her life.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
16 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The image posted by the president Sunday night showed Trump wearing a biblical-style robe and laying hands on a bedridden man as light emanates from his fingers — while a soldier, a nurse, a praying woman and a bearded man in a baseball cap all look on admiringly.—
Will Weissert,
Fortune,
13 Apr. 2026
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Encephalitis can also lay dormant, with Edwards never having a cold sore herself, the outlet added.—
Adam England,
PEOPLE,
13 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Mendoza had a remarkable journey, not thought of as a top quarterback prospect when he was recruited out of high school.—
David Furones,
Sun Sentinel,
19 Apr. 2026
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The administration has also used social media to recruit applicants.—
Eric Tucker,
Fortune,
19 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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During one rant against cancel culture and its pernicious tendency to smear the innocent, Tillman brings up Joseph McCarthy as a prime example of a person whose reputation was unfairly destroyed.—
Jonathan Chait,
The Atlantic,
10 Apr. 2026
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Lay vs. Lie
Editor Emily Brewster clarifies the difference.
Cite this Entry
“Lay on.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lay%20on. Accessed 21 Apr. 2026.
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