Thesaurus results for WAYLAID

waylaid

verb

past tense of waylay

as in ambushed

to lie in wait for and attack by surprise a lonely stretch of highway along which unsuspecting tourists are often waylaid by gangs

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of waylaid The Padres have gotten promising results from two reclamation projects in Walker Buehler and Germán Márquez, veterans who used to lead pitching staffs before Tommy John surgery waylaid them the past couple seasons. —

Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Apr. 2026 Now Picard is zipping around the cosmos again, The Lord of the Rings is waylaid with prequels and spin-offs, and somehow, Palpatine returned. —

Matthew Razak, Space.com, 13 Apr. 2026 Thousands of passengers and crew were caught on vessels waylaid in ports in the UAE and Qatar. —

Maureen O'Hare, CNN Money, 7 Mar. 2026 In season two, the pair head north to Darwin to help solve the murder of Eddie’s former partner but get waylaid investigating a murder in a remote river town of Barra Creek. —

David Faris, TheWeek, 4 Mar. 2026 Tom, who’s aggressive and attempting to rekindle fan interest by being honest and direct, is aiming for the Twins to play competitive baseball games in September, a lofty goal that could be waylaid by a makeshift bullpen. —

Dan Hayes, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2026 The decision came back to haunt the Braves, who were waylaid by injuries and underperformance and ultimately saw their streak of postseason berths end at seven. —

Ken Sugiura, AJC.com, 5 Feb. 2026 In addition, the multiple injuries have waylaid his development. —

Anthony Bettin, CBS News, 14 Jan. 2026 They were supposed to come together at the Palm Springs Film Festival earlier this month, but DiCaprio got famously waylaid while traveling back from his Jeff Bezos yacht vacation. —

Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 9 Jan. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for waylaid

Verb

The violence then shifted to Brookhaven, where Mathews was ambushed and shot several times outside a business center.

— Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 22 Apr. 2026
Some residents say frustrations over the guard eased after two members of the West Virginia contingent were ambushed just blocks from the White House, killing Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and severely injuring her colleague.

— Gary Fields, Chicago Tribune, 20 Apr. 2026