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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of waylaid
On the Padres’ meandering stroll to the postseason, they were almost waylaid again by the walk.
—
Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Sep. 2025
Still, plenty of players have had fast starts to their careers only to be waylaid by health issues or bizarre regressions.
—Alex Kirschenbaum, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Sep. 2025
McDonald had grown up attending church services, but decades of addiction and abuse had waylaid her.
—Jillian Steinhauer, New Yorker, 5 Sep. 2025
However, their celebratory moment was waylaid when a bumblebee set its sights on the actress.
—Michael Nied, People.com, 13 Aug. 2025
Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Sep. 2025
Still, plenty of players have had fast starts to their careers only to be waylaid by health issues or bizarre regressions.
—Alex Kirschenbaum, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Sep. 2025
McDonald had grown up attending church services, but decades of addiction and abuse had waylaid her.
—Jillian Steinhauer, New Yorker, 5 Sep. 2025
However, their celebratory moment was waylaid when a bumblebee set its sights on the actress.
—Michael Nied, People.com, 13 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for waylaid
Verb
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Upstairs, Linda alleged she was ambushed.—
Christina Coulter,
PEOPLE,
30 Sep. 2025
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In episode two, Alex is ambushed by her bosses and a representative from the network’s legal team, who unearthed footage of Alex colluding with Roya and Arsham inside the UBN studio.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
26 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The Eagles attacked Skinner again, and the home crowd begged for a flag after the safety aggressively defended tight end Dallas Goedert, but no penalty was called.—
Nick Kosmider,
New York Times,
6 Oct. 2025
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In the southern border city of Sderot, which was attacked on October 7, and is frequently the target of rocket fire, a group of Israelis gathered at an observation deck overlooking Gaza to revel in its ruin.—
Zeena Saifi,
CNN Money,
5 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Waylaid.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/waylaid. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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