layoff

[ ley-awf, -of ]
See synonyms for layoff on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the act of dismissing employees, especially temporarily.

  2. a period of enforced unemployment or inactivity.

Origin of layoff

1
1885–90, Americanism; noun use of verb phrase lay off

Words that may be confused with layoff

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use layoff in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for lay off

lay off

verb
  1. (tr, adverb) to suspend (workers) from employment with the intention of re-employing them at a later date: the firm had to lay off 100 men

  2. (intr) informal to leave (a person, thing, or activity) alone: lay off me, will you!

  1. (tr, adverb) to mark off the boundaries of

  2. (tr, adverb) soccer to pass or deflect (the ball) to a team-mate, esp one in a more advantageous position

  3. gambling another term for hedge (def. 10)

nounlay-off
  1. the act of suspending employees

  2. a period of imposed unemployment

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for layoff

layoff

The temporary or permanent removal of a worker from his or her job, usually because of cutbacks in production or corporate reorganization.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Other Idioms and Phrases with layoff

layoff

Terminate a person from employment. For example, When they lost the contract, they had to lay off a hundred workers. This expression formerly referred to temporary dismissals, as during a recession, with the idea that workers would be hired back when conditions improved, but with the tendency of businesses to downsize in the 1990s it came to mean “terminate permanently.” [First half of 1800s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.