as in spreads
to cause to move outward and apart
He sat with his legs splayed apart. She splayed her fingers to show off her manicure.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for splays
Verb
-
Another cold front sweeping down from Canada will drop already moderate temperatures 10-20 degrees across parts of the Midwest this week before its grip spreads across the Northeast, forecasters say.—
John Bacon,
USA Today,
3 Sep. 2025 -
Transmitted by bites, scratches, or even just by getting a drop of infected blood in one's system, the virus spreads rapidly, effectively collapsing society.—
Jennifer Ouellette,
ArsTechnica,
3 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Flowing west from Miller Beach in Gary, the river splits between Hammond and East Chicago — most of its waters heading north to drain into Lake Michigan through the Indiana Harbor, the rest flowing toward Illinois.—
Adriana Pérez,
Chicago Tribune,
31 Aug. 2025
-
The assumption was that when one species splits from another, the two new forms passively evolve away from each other, drifting solo on their evolutionary paths like two untethered buoys at sea.—
Jake Buehler,
Quanta Magazine,
28 Aug. 2025
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.
Cite this Entry
“Splays.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/splays. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share