1
as in to dump
to get rid of as useless or unwanted
a politician who had laid by his principles years ago
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to store
to put (something of future use or value) in a safe or secret place
ever since the last hurricane caught them unprepared, they have laid by emergency supplies
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lay by
Verb
-
The Level 5 accident dumped radioactive contamination across Europe and it is thought that traces of isotope iodine-131 may have caused several hundred cancer diagnoses.—
Kurt Snibbe,
Oc Register,
25 Apr. 2026 -
Next to it was one of the vast open spaces where the city of Ottawa carted and dumped the snow removed from city streets—a vast mountain range of gray-white that survived into the heat of early summer.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The first is whether a geofence is covered by the Fourth Amendment at all, and second is whether the millions of people who voluntarily signed up to have their location data stored for them essentially gave up any right to privacy.—
Nina Totenberg,
NPR,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Maintained by a team of a dozen full-time florists, the flowers for the ceremony were stored in a giant walk-in refrigerator and were delivered to the set all in one day to avoid them sitting out in the sun.—
Zoe Papelis,
Vulture,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
And, while most people don't regularly watch VHS tapes anymore, discarding tapes with family memories on them might leave you with some regret.—
Alexandra Kelly,
Martha Stewart,
26 Apr. 2026
-
One thing that the Loverboy founder discarded was a fellow cast member leaking it, as phones have to be tucked away behind a pillow.—
Armando Tinoco,
Deadline,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Flick was aware of what lay in store for his team and asked them to play a more pragmatic game than usual.—
Laia Cervelló Herrero,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
-
One big unknown, following the death of the penny, lay in how retailers might handle the math of rounding off cash transactions.—
Daniel de Visé,
USA Today,
19 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The Ulta Buy More, Save More Sale couldn’t have come at a better time—we’re officially ditching the beanies and letting our hair out.—
Christa Joanna Lee,
Allure,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Kerss is a master at breaking the complicated information down into manageable bites for those of us who ditched science after high school.—
Heather Greenwood Davis,
Condé Nast Traveler,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
This is a smart way to stash and develop a player who could pair with kicker Will Reichard for years to come.—
Alec Lewis,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Winston Porter’s storage bench helps tidy things up while adding functional seating, with a generous 80-gallon capacity to stash everything from extra cushions to seasonal decor.—
Mariana Best,
Better Homes & Gardens,
26 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Policy for transporting firearms Amtrak requires firearms on its trains to be declared, unloaded, secured in a hard case and to meet certain size and weight requirements.—
Claudia Lauer,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Apr. 2026
-
Jerusalem — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Israel of knowingly allowing grain stolen by Russia to be unloaded at Israeli ports, threatening to impose sanctions on anyone involved in the shipments, which Kyiv says have continued despite multiple appeals to Israeli officials.—
Tal Shalev,
CNN Money,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
But thanks to their reproductive vigor — females can lay up to 25,000 eggs in a single season — their numbers quickly hopped out of hand.—
Shi En Kim,
AZCentral.com,
13 Mar. 2026
-
Summit's Javon Ross (33) lays up a ball as Lovejoy's Maddox Johnson (2) defends in the second half of a high school basketball game, Class 5A Division II state semifinal, at SUM’s Moody Coliseum, Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in University Park.—
Dallas Morning News,
Dallas Morning News,
11 Mar. 2026
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.
Video
Lay vs. Lie
Editor Emily Brewster clarifies the difference.
Cite this Entry
“Lay by.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lay%20by. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
