overlaying 1 of 3

Definition of overlayingnext

overlaying

2 of 3

noun

overlaying

3 of 3

verb

present participle of overlay
1
2
as in overlapping
to lie over parts of one another cedar shingles overlaying one another on the roof

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of overlaying
Verb
As music played in the background, overlaying captions appeared on screen beside Bader, 30, who underwent bariatric surgery in December 2023. Zoey Lyttle, PEOPLE, 3 Feb. 2026 Trying to tap the ice sheet, which covers 80 percent of Greenland, for minerals is unappealing, given that all the necessary supplies would need to be brought inland by helicopter and there are kilometers of ice overlaying parts of the rock. Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 23 Jan. 2026 In Texas, overlaying precincts with current and proposed maps shows how elections could unfold. Ramon Padilla, USA Today, 30 Oct. 2025 The Quantum Internet will not replace the classical Internet but augment it, overlaying quantum signals with classical bits. Mallik Tatipamula, IEEE Spectrum, 27 Oct. 2025 Podlesí is notorious for its boring atmosphere, overlaying everything like a thick blanket. Zuzana Říhová, Literary Hub, 26 Sep. 2025 Last year at Connect, Meta unveiled its Orion glasses, which are a prototype capable of overlaying complex 3D visuals onto the physical world. Jonathan Vanian, CNBC, 20 Sep. 2025 The pins appear to march through the entire valley, overlaying each other and clustering at the locations of ranches and farms. Sacbee.com, 18 Sep. 2025 At its core, Caption with Intention is a novel captioning design system which aims to significantly augment several critical points of failure within traditional captioning by overlaying animation, color and variable typography to bring the text to life. Gus Alexiou, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for overlaying
Adjective
  • For Manuel, the moral universe of the golf course — as well as the game itself — functions as an underlying metaphor for the Philippines’ cycles of political stasis.
    Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 14 Feb. 2026
  • Healthcare costs remain an ongoing topic across organizations, even as the underlying mechanics of how they are calculated and distributed can be complex.
    Lyssanoel Frater, USA Today, 13 Feb. 2026
Verb
  • This practice of coating paper with wax dates back through the 19th century, as a way to keep moisture and odors out of different food items.
    Katie Rosenhouse, Southern Living, 9 Feb. 2026
  • The sun comes out, coating the top layer of the icy snow with water, and suddenly, the track is a half-second faster.
    Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 7 Feb. 2026
Verb
  • Finding space elsewhere helped in both matches against Sunderland, with an overlapping run from Riccardo Calafiori creating space for Trossard away from home.
    Art de Roché, New York Times, 9 Feb. 2026
  • Start by laying sheets of cardboard on the ground, overlapping the edges to block out sunlight from reaching weed seeds.
    Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 9 Feb. 2026
Verb
  • In a media landscape increasingly defined by power and influence, the emails offer journalists a cautionary tale and a road map for covering the elite.
    Max Tani, semafor.com, 9 Feb. 2026
  • Venevision, which like most private networks dropped coverage critical of the government in recent years, has reopened its airwaves to anti-government voices, covering opposition leader María Corina Machado's every move in Washington since Maduro's capture.
    EGINA GARCIA CANO, Arkansas Online, 8 Feb. 2026
Adjective
  • Again, the superposed vector can be decomposed into its constituents.
    Anil Ananthaswamy, Quanta Magazine, 13 Apr. 2023
  • Like entanglement, the superposed states essential to its power are fragile, collapsing when measured or otherwise perturbed by the outside world.
    Gabriel Popkin, Science | AAAS, 3 June 2021
Verb
  • However, those sea surface temperatures will be far warmer than the overlying air temperatures.
    Marshall Shepherd, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
  • But clever techniques can work around this limitation, including adaptive optics, which rapidly reshapes a mirror in the telescope to counter the motion of overlying air.
    Phil Plait, Scientific American, 27 Nov. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Overlaying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/overlaying. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.

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