lays off

verb

present tense third-person singular of lay off
as in stops
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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for lays off
  1. stops
  2. ceases
  3. ends
  4. halts
  5. cuts off
  6. breaks off
  7. shuts off
  8. quits
Verb
  • The New Braunfels, Texas, resident kept a frenetic touring schedule, headlining major Texas venues and mid-sized dance halls around the country, with occasional arena or amphitheater stops opening for Koe Wetzel thrown in.
    — Josh Crutchmer, Rolling Stone, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Nighttime mouth breathing is associated with snoring, dry mouth, receding gums and sleep apnea, a disorder in which breathing stops repeatedly during sleep.
    — Samantha Agate, Charlotte Observer, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of stops
Verb
  • If the person holding key intellectual property or leading the company risks losing status, immigration planning ceases to be a personal ordeal.
    — Bernardo Saraiva, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026
  • There is a point beyond which the scale of a threat or a danger ceases to scare us.
    — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of ceases
Verb
  • The decision, for now, ends Grab’s first attempt to expand outside Southeast Asia.
    — Jay Ganglani, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2026
  • The loss of Flyte and Coe (Tom Brooke) earlier in the season leaves the Horses a little worse for wear, but Slow Horses has one parting blow for our semi-competent hero, River (Jack Lowden), before the season ends.
    — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of ends
Verb
  • The court's decision halts the effort for now, leaving BARC open while the legal challenge continues.
    — Adam Thompson, CBS News, 15 Oct. 2026
  • This natural inversion destroys leadership, fractures relationships and halts self-improvement.
    — Brendan Keegan, Forbes.com, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of halts
Verb
  • The officers are seen lifting Belgal from the car before the video cuts off.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 10 Oct. 2026
  • Reviving a yearslong disagreement, the city of Batavia is again asking Aurora to remove a gate on Wagner Road off Mesa Lane, which currently cuts off one way of entering and exiting a neighborhood on the edge of Aurora’s border with Batavia.
    — Molly Morrow, Chicago Tribune, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of cuts off
Verb
  • This is the most significant ice calving event (where ice breaks off of a glacier) seen in the Arctic since 2020.
    — Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 24 Aug. 2026
  • According to the reports, the malfunctions occurred during the ride's signature ‘tilt' portion, where the segment of track containing the ride vehicle breaks off completely and tilts forward 45 degrees before reconnecting to another piece of track at a 90-degree angle to the ground below.
    — Colson Thayer, PEOPLE, 10 June 2026
Definition of breaks off
Verb
  • Most movies are paired with local live acts to fill the air as the crowd mills in or to keep the party going long after the projector shuts off.
    — Kat Chen, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Inflation has reached absurd heights, the Lebanese pound is all but worthless, and the government shuts off the electricity for more than half of each day.
    — Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of shuts off
Verb
  • Continue reading ⦠CIVIC BREAKDOWN â Town's entire police force quits after bitter feud with city leaders boils over.
    — , FOXNews.com, 22 Oct. 2026
  • Every researcher who quits Anthropic to write a viral letter about extinction is casting himself, in the drama running in his own head, as Oppenheimer walking away from the bomb.
    — Stephen Messer, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of quits
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

lays into
lays off
lays off (of)
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Cite this Entry

“Lays off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lays%20off. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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