as in to spread
to cause to move outward and apart
He sat with his legs splayed apart. She splayed her fingers to show off her manicure.
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Recent Examples of splay
The weekend splays out before us, ripe with opportunity.
—
Erik Kain, Forbes, 4 Oct. 2024
When fully splayed out, the device’s OLED touchscreen measures 10.2 inches, with a screen ratio of 16 by 11 and 3,000 pixels.
—Tori Latham, Robb Report, 25 Sep. 2024
His legs are splayed wide before him, manspreading.
—M. Z. Adnan, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2024
Another features a powder-blue van in a desert and two men warming their hands over an oil-drum fire, a mutilated corpse splayed between them.
—Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 22 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for splay 
Erik Kain, Forbes, 4 Oct. 2024
When fully splayed out, the device’s OLED touchscreen measures 10.2 inches, with a screen ratio of 16 by 11 and 3,000 pixels.
—Tori Latham, Robb Report, 25 Sep. 2024
His legs are splayed wide before him, manspreading.
—M. Z. Adnan, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2024
Another features a powder-blue van in a desert and two men warming their hands over an oil-drum fire, a mutilated corpse splayed between them.
—Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 22 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for splay
Thesaurus Entries Near splay
Cite this Entry
“Splay.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/splay. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.
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