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.
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Recent Examples of splays
Across the boat, a young guy with thin lips and a sweater tied around his shoulders leans back and splays his legs.
—
Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Jan. 2026
The Riverwalk in Fort Lauderdale splays out in full shade from the condo buildings and strips of golden sun.
—Eric Barton, Sun Sentinel, 4 Jan. 2026
The sneakers feature Altra’s signature FootShape design, which splays at the front to give your toes ample space for natural movement.
—Olivia Young, Travel + Leisure, 13 Nov. 2025
Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Jan. 2026
The Riverwalk in Fort Lauderdale splays out in full shade from the condo buildings and strips of golden sun.
—Eric Barton, Sun Sentinel, 4 Jan. 2026
The sneakers feature Altra’s signature FootShape design, which splays at the front to give your toes ample space for natural movement.
—Olivia Young, Travel + Leisure, 13 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for splays
Verb
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Markets, policymakers and regional leaders are now watching closely to see how far the conflict spreads, and whether the power shift in Tehran alters Iran’s political trajectory or further entrenches its security-first stance.—
Garrett Downs,Greg Iacurci,Azhar Sukri,Spriha Srivastava,Emma Graham,Lee Ying Shan,Anniek Bao,
CNBC,
1 Mar. 2026
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From an engineering perspective, this process can be conceptualized as a self-replicating firmware update that spreads through a network of nodes; however, the network in this case is a population, and the firmware update is a genomic modification.—
Srishti Gupta,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Lithium sulfate flows through the central compartment, and the cell’s electric field splits the salt apart.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
26 Feb. 2026
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The Supreme Court only grants review to about 1% of petitions, but one scenario where the odds are higher involves federal circuit splits—especially when the number of people impacted is considerable and when the legal question interests the justices.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
26 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Splays.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/splays. Accessed 2 Mar. 2026.
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