laid
Americanverb
verb
Other Word Forms
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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.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and his seemingly supernatural competence at both city management and marketing, has laid a blueprint for kitchen-table progressives looking to bust out of the Trump-era holding pattern.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026
Adult cuttlefish typically die after breeding so each mating season is crucial for the species' future, but in recent months, just 440 eggs have been counted, instead of the millions that are usually laid.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
The restaurant at his casino, which used to operate around the clock, has laid off about 20 employees and switched to a buffet format that is open only in the morning.
From Barron's ● Aug. 29, 2026
LIV lost its Saudi funding, laid off most of its staff, and faces lawsuits from unpaid vendors as it attempts to restructure under a new model.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
We laid the piece of the box on the table with Anna’s cures and made ourselves a bit of hot water to sip while I told her all that had happened, almost all.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
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.
