laid
Americanverb
verb
Other Word Forms
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How does laid compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Laid means "set down." If you built a brick wall, and then when it's done your neighbor complains that the wall crosses onto his property, tell him, "too late! The brick has already been laid." Laid is the past participle of the verb, lay, which means set down. So something that has been laid has already been set down. You might scramble up the eggs the chickens laid yesterday. Before your guests come over, your table should have been laid. Or you might examine the foundations that the builder laid down for the house you're building. We often use laid if we want to emphasize how carefully something has been done.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Laid out on makeshift stretchers, they were carried to a nearby ambulance.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 30, 2026
“Big Market Break Is Laid to ‘Wolf,’ ” the Atlanta Constitution wrote on Oct.
From Barron's • Mar. 1, 2026
Hugo Keenan: Laid low by illness early on, then came into the team and had a shocker against the Waratahs.
From BBC • Aug. 3, 2025
Laid out more plainly: in the snack bar category, four companies – General Mills, Kellogg, Simply Good Foods and Mars – made 66.4% of the snack bars stocked on shelves, per 2021 data.
From Salon • Sep. 12, 2024
Laid out on it was a pretty necklace, gold, with a locket shaped like a heart.
From "Beyond the Bright Sea" by Lauren Wolk
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
