overlain

past participle of overlie
1
as in overlapped
to lie over parts of one another the puzzle pieces overlay one another in complete disarray on the floor

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for overlain
Verb
  • The roles overlapped, but Robb and the mayor’s office insisted there was a firewall between Robb and the mayor regarding the Lineage fire.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 2 Aug. 2026
  • The duo also overlapped at Austria’s RB Salzburg — Glasner as assistant manager between 2012 and 2014, and Schlager as a player from 2016-19 after coming through their youth ranks.
    Paul Taylor, New York Times, 30 July 2026
Verb
  • The wings in the ad appeared to be heavily coated in a thick, dark sauce, and some of the pieces didn’t clearly resemble drums or flats.
    Evan Moore, Charlotte Observer, 3 Aug. 2026
  • Today, various combinations are packed into cardboard spheres or cylinders—shells—along with fuses coated in a flammable slurry, then sealed inside kraft paper and shot from fibreglass mortars.
    Paige Williams, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • This is a large, Art Deco covered market, built in the 1920s for an architectural competition.
    Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Inside the Lasch Football Building, for example, there’s barely a wall not covered in some sort of a mural featuring a uniformed player, Nike swoosh proudly displayed.
    Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 7 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Each design was simulated spinning mid-flight and overlaid on 100 real-world backgrounds, then scored by a perceptual model built to mimic human vision, where a lower score meant better camouflage.
    New Atlas, New Atlas, 17 July 2026
  • Text is entered by a user and overlaid within hundreds of moving dots in a short video animation.
    Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 16 July 2026
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Overlain.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/overlain. Accessed 8 Aug. 2026.

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