laying off

verb

present participle of lay off
as in ending
to bring (as an action or operation) to an immediate end you need to lay off eating those jelly doughnuts, or you'll end up looking like one

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for laying off
  1. ending
  2. stopping
  3. ceasing
  4. halting
  5. cutting off
  6. shutting off
  7. breaking off
  8. cutting out
Verb
  • That kind of conflict doesn't leave you feeling like the world is ending.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Superman and Batman might be one of the DC Universe’s most famous partnerships, but Robert Pattinson is officially ending speculation that his take on Bruce Wayne would fit in the cinematic world created by James Gunn.
    — Payton Turkeltaub, Variety, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of ending
Verb
  • This, combined with the glacial pace of emissions reductions, gives the sense that key players are more interested in surviving what’s coming, rather than stopping it.
    — Stephanie Walton, Fortune, 29 Sep. 2026
  • There are hydraulic disc brakes at both ends for stopping power.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of stopping
Verb
  • Scanlon told me Friday afternoon that Pattis will try to enjoin him from ceasing the payments.
    — Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 19 Sep. 2026
  • But simply ceasing contact doesn’t get to the root of the issue.
    — Susan Steade, Sun Sentinel, 7 Sep. 2026
Definition of ceasing
Verb
  • Kean, who has voted against resolutions aimed at halting military action in Iran, defended the war.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 28 Sep. 2026
  • By halting those exports, the thinking goes, domestic diesel prices would drop due to a flood of fresh supply, lowering costs for farmers, commercial trucking companies and thousands of other businesses that rely on the fuel.
    — Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of halting
Verb
  • Deadhead blazing star during the growing season to encourage more flowering, but do not prune too soon, as cutting off the foliage may reduce next year’s blooms.
    — Lauren Landers, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Sep. 2026
  • The trade system is also being fragmented by global trade dynamics like export restrictions, tariffs, sanctions cutting off certain sources, and shipping and logistics breakdowns.
    — Cleo Levin, Footwear News, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of cutting off
Verb
  • The disruptive nature of transposons may have required organisms to evolve new methods of shutting off their activity.
    — Jake Buehler, Quanta Magazine, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Kenji's intestines, for no obvious reason, had suddenly twisted, shutting off the blood supply.
    — Robbie Owens, CBS News, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of shutting off
Verb
  • Experts believe Wednesday's mudslides and flash flooding across Nepal and China's Tibet region were caused by a large chunk of ice breaking off a glacier and falling into the Lhende Khola River.
    — Robert McGreevy, FOXNews.com, 29 Aug. 2026
  • The AccuWeather team will be looking for smaller storm cells breaking off of the main line, which would give them freedom to begin rotating and potentially spin off a tornado funnel.
    — Karl Hille, Baltimore Sun, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of breaking off
Verb
  • The creditors’ lawsuit claims that Kenny engineered a situation in which Thai Union could control Red Lobster’s seafood purchasing—cutting out competitors and charging higher prices for shrimp.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Then an edited version of the podcast resurfaced, cutting out a 3-minute segment where McAlexander discussed retatrutide.
    — Daniel Gilbert, CBS News, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of cutting out
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

laying into
laying off
laying off (of)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Laying off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/laying%20off. Accessed 5 Oct. 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!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

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
name tags
Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
See All