as in 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 splayed
Isabelle hops, arms splayed upward, hits the water, and swims to Mom.
—
Gerald Witt, AJC.com, 1 Mar. 2026
Jurors saw a photo of Saxon’s small mattress splayed on a bare concrete floor beside a case of bottled water and some Ensure protein drinks.
—Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 25 Feb. 2026
Judges score the flips and spins, including pretzel-like shapes with skis splayed or crossed, before the skiers pull up at the last split second and slam skis-first into the landing area, kicking up a spray of snow.
—ABC News, 16 Feb. 2026
The entire western-facing wall of the house is glass—the valley and forest splayed out before us, in every shade of green imaginable.
—Devorah Lev-Tov, Condé Nast Traveler, 19 Jan. 2026
Also, there are no people and everything is compressed, as if a giant hand had come down from the sky and harmlessly splayed the three-dimensional world out into two, for easier viewing.
—Lori Waxman, Chicago Tribune, 2 Jan. 2026
During this particularly artsy weekend, more than 600 artists turn the streets of downtown Lake Worth Beach into a temporary open-air museum with larger-than-life chalk murals splayed across Lake and Lucerne Avenues.
—Skye Sherman, Southern Living, 22 Dec. 2025
Compacted into 137 bundles, that steel had to be meticulously splayed out in order to successfully loop around the roadbed, just before the Yerba Buena Tunnel.
—Katie Lauer, Mercury News, 22 Dec. 2025
The clip accompanying the Facebook post starts with the 600-pound gator splayed out on a Florida road as several uniformed people approach it.
—Kelli Bender, PEOPLE, 5 Dec. 2025
Gerald Witt, AJC.com, 1 Mar. 2026
Jurors saw a photo of Saxon’s small mattress splayed on a bare concrete floor beside a case of bottled water and some Ensure protein drinks.
—Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 25 Feb. 2026
Judges score the flips and spins, including pretzel-like shapes with skis splayed or crossed, before the skiers pull up at the last split second and slam skis-first into the landing area, kicking up a spray of snow.
—ABC News, 16 Feb. 2026
The entire western-facing wall of the house is glass—the valley and forest splayed out before us, in every shade of green imaginable.
—Devorah Lev-Tov, Condé Nast Traveler, 19 Jan. 2026
Also, there are no people and everything is compressed, as if a giant hand had come down from the sky and harmlessly splayed the three-dimensional world out into two, for easier viewing.
—Lori Waxman, Chicago Tribune, 2 Jan. 2026
During this particularly artsy weekend, more than 600 artists turn the streets of downtown Lake Worth Beach into a temporary open-air museum with larger-than-life chalk murals splayed across Lake and Lucerne Avenues.
—Skye Sherman, Southern Living, 22 Dec. 2025
Compacted into 137 bundles, that steel had to be meticulously splayed out in order to successfully loop around the roadbed, just before the Yerba Buena Tunnel.
—Katie Lauer, Mercury News, 22 Dec. 2025
The clip accompanying the Facebook post starts with the 600-pound gator splayed out on a Florida road as several uniformed people approach it.
—Kelli Bender, PEOPLE, 5 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for splayed
Verb
-
After supporting the health and livelihood of people in Kenya and Rwanda through medication, the shutdown of the USAID program has left these people susceptible to various illnesses that spread since there are no medications available.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
2 Mar. 2026
-
Each seasonal series has three workshops and a field trip spread over two days.—
Hema Sivanandam,
Mercury News,
2 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Cloud cover ranges from scattered to broken cloud cover; generally, 30% to no more than 70%.—
Joe Rao,
Space.com,
2 Mar. 2026
-
Loads of the characters had been scattered across the global chessboard.—
Alison Herman,
Variety,
2 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
The title game will be March 4 at Unrivaled’s home arena in Miami, with a prize pool of $600,000 to be split among players from the championship-winning club.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
1 Mar. 2026
-
Britain split away on the second leg, looking for better wind.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
1 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Splayed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/splayed. Accessed 5 Mar. 2026.
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