laid
Americanverb
verb
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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.
It laid the foundations for Lake to power towards the line before prop Griffin, who had not trained on Friday, flopped over for his first Test try, which Sam Costelow converted.
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026
A combination of that and Samoa's inability to make the most of field position, with a smattering of handling errors thrown in as well, laid the platform for New Zealand's triumph.
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026
Earlier this year, Oracle laid off 30,000 employees who were notified of their terminations at 6 a.m. and then promptly locked out of their devices.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
In the 1950s, the heyday of Nehruvian planning, India laid the foundations for a public-sector electronics industry that expanded into semiconductor manufacturing, but the projects sputtered after promising starts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
Grandpa laid the book on the table and both of us read the title, Trapping Monkeys in the Jungles of Borneo.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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