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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But a rethink of these strategies could be prompted by what happened on the latest of his 516 appearances for the club, spread over 16 years.—
Andy Naylor,
New York Times,
21 Apr. 2026 -
The hood was spreading, forming its cupped oval.—
John McPhee,
New Yorker,
20 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
-
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
-
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 2025 Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act, or HEAR Act, expands on a 2016 law, signed by President Barack Obama, that permits victims and descendants of victims of the Holocaust to lay legal claim to works of art looted by the Nazis or sold to the Nazis under false pretenses.—
Jackie Hajdenberg,
Sun Sentinel,
20 Apr. 2026
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Although some berry storage advice says to lay the berries flat, in Faust’s experience, the berries go bad faster this way.—
Stacey Lastoe,
Southern Living,
20 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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Many told me the liberal media had smeared them as racists, xenophobes and misogynists.—
Nataliya Gumenyuk,
The Dial,
21 Apr. 2026
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Lawyers for MacInnes have accused Wilson of hiring Melissa Nathan, the American publicist of The Agency Group, to launch websites that smeared Ghost.—
Jake Kanter,
Deadline,
21 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 23 Apr. 2026.
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