OUTLAYS Synonyms: 46 Similar and Opposite Words

outlays 1 of 2

noun

plural of outlay

as in expenses

a payment made in the course of achieving a result the outlays for the couple's upcoming wedding seem to be multiplying at an incredible rate

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outlays

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of outlay

as in spends

to hand over or use up in payment the nation had outlaid nearly 20 billion dollars on social programs at that point

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Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of outlays

Noun

By comparison, total spending jumped 102% in that span, with outlays on social security and employment up 207%, science and technology up 137%, and defense up 141%. — Jason Ma, Fortune, 11 Oct. 2026 This time, France's large pension outlays and its need to rein in public spending leave little room for maneuver. — Makini Brice, Arkansas Online, 10 Oct. 2026 Russia ramped up its military outlays, putting it on track to spend a record $200 billion on defense in 2026 with little sign of the Ukraine war coming to an end. — Prashant Rao, semafor.com, 9 Oct. 2026 The district plans to spend $216 million on capital outlays, up from $132 million, including the ongoing Unite U-46 construction projects and the purchase of new buses. — Mike Danahey, Chicago Tribune, 15 Sep. 2026 The Lawrence deal changed the Bengals’ math this offseason, and de facto general manager Duke Tobin spoke before training camp about the future outlays and challenges in completing those deals. — Paul Dehner Jr, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2026 Federal funding outlays followed, including nearly $114 million awarded for initial construction components. — Keith Matheny, Freep.com, 31 Aug. 2026 Willy Kurniawan | Reuters Indonesia may have trouble meeting its economic-growth goals for the coming year, after spending 2026 on the defensive amid questions about fiscal outlays and the prospects of a downgrade from MSCI. — Celestine Iyer, CNBC, 26 Aug. 2026 In the first 10 months of the 2026 fiscal year, interest costs have eclipsed Medicare healthcare outlays to become the second-largest line item in the federal budget, behind the Social Security pension system. — Reuters, NBC news, 19 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for outlays

Noun

Non-interest expenses came in below expectations, which is encouraging, but the $112 million beat versus the FactSet consensus didn't make up for all of the top-line softness.

— Jeff Marks, CNBC, 13 Oct. 2026
The complaint accuses Love Renaissance of improperly diverting money from Walker’s touring, recording, marketing, and merchandising budgets, while charging excessive company expenses to those accounts in bad faith.

— Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of expenses

Verb

Compared to a woman who spends her days toiling to defend some of America’s most underserved, Lee’s a man who wrote a puff piece about some rich, white dude.

— Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 15 Oct. 2026
For anyone who spends a lot of time online, the series’s AI origins are hard to miss.

— Britta Miller, The Washington Examiner, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of spends

Noun

There’s also an additional $5,768 in monthly real estate taxes, bringing the total baseline carrying costs to just under $10,000 a month.

— Wendy Bowman, Robb Report, 12 Oct. 2026
The shows no longer deliver the ratings necessary to attract enough ad revenue to cover their costs on broadcast networks, which include rights fees and production costs.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of costs

Verb

So instead of making teams whole each time, the NFL now just pays teams’ travel expenses for their international game under the rationale that every team will lose a home game—and, in turn, home game ticket revenue—during that time.

— Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 16 Oct. 2026
The result is a politics in which almost everyone agrees that reform is urgently needed, provided someone else pays, and their own group’s advantages remain untouched.

— Nicholas Bequelin, Time, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of pays

Noun

Ellison has taken an opposing view from his predecessors who confronted crumbling industry economics by cutting expenditures to boost their corporate bottom lines.

— Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026
The arrival of Netflix in many regions, including South Korea and areas of Africa, has been a watershed moment that helped turbocharge local production infrastructure, jobs and expenditures.

— Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of expenditures

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outlaying

outlays

outlet

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“Outlays.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/outlays. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of outlays

noun

verb

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