as in to ambush
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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Recent Examples of waylay
Damon takes center stage as Odysseus, the brave and cunning king of Ithaca who gets waylaid for 10 years trying to return home to his loyal wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), and dutiful son, Telemachus (Tom Holland), after playing a key role in the Trojan War.
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Oliver Gettell, Entertainment Weekly, 22 Dec. 2025
Google had hoped to void those changes with an appeal, but the ruling issued in July by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a legal blow for the tech giant, which has been waylaid in three separate antitrust trials affecting different pillars of its internet empire.
—Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 6 Nov. 2025
Ensure a simple-enough menu stays manageable with a to-do list so you’re not waylaid by days-long side quests.
—Joseph Hernandez, Bon Appetit Magazine, 21 Oct. 2025
In Pecos, a shelter employee named Luis gave me a tour while Wright was waylaid by a man in a black pickup truck who wanted to surrender four pit bulls.
—Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for waylay
Oliver Gettell, Entertainment Weekly, 22 Dec. 2025
Google had hoped to void those changes with an appeal, but the ruling issued in July by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a legal blow for the tech giant, which has been waylaid in three separate antitrust trials affecting different pillars of its internet empire.
—Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 6 Nov. 2025
Ensure a simple-enough menu stays manageable with a to-do list so you’re not waylaid by days-long side quests.
—Joseph Hernandez, Bon Appetit Magazine, 21 Oct. 2025
In Pecos, a shelter employee named Luis gave me a tour while Wright was waylaid by a man in a black pickup truck who wanted to surrender four pit bulls.
—Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for waylay
Recent Examples of Synonyms for waylay
Verb
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Given the lack of mangroves, snook in South Florida make do with boat docks, which provide protection from predators as well as sites from which to ambush smaller fish and crustaceans.—
Steve Waters,
Miami Herald,
6 Feb. 2026
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The man accused of ambushing West Virginia National Guard members near the White House in November, killing one and severely wounding another, is set to be arraigned in court on Wednesday.—
Steve Beynon,
ABC News,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Mobs attacked television vans and set cars ablaze as overrun hospitals struggled to cope with scores of injured people.—
Rhea Mogul,
CNN Money,
6 Feb. 2026
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The complication is not well understood but appears to be the result of the virus prompting the immune system to attack a certain protein that some brain cells produce.—
Meghan Bartels,
Scientific American,
5 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Waylay.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/waylay. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
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