Word.ws English Dictionary

inlaid

inlaid is the simple past and past participle of inlay.

Adjective

inlaid (not comparable)

  1. Set into a surface in a decorative pattern.
  2. Having an inset decorative pattern.
    • When the Minister of Defense was about to raise an elegantly worded, logical, and tactful objection, the French president slammed down his bottle of Perrier on the antique, polished, inlaid surface of the cabinet table and told him to shut up and have the men at the airfield in two hours.1994, Tom Clancy, Armored Cav: A Guided Tour of an Armored Cavalry Regiment, New York: Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 281
    • In 2003, at Neal Auction Company in New Orleans, an 1810s mahogany armoire inlaid with ribbons and vines brought $140,000 (the presale estimate was $30,000 to $50,000).2010 December 9, Eve M. Kahn, “Exploring the Art of Louisiana Furniture”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 18 Jun 2020

Meaning of inlay

Verb

inlay (third-person singular simple present inlays, present participle inlaying, simple past and past participle inlaid)

  1. (also, figuratively) To place (pieces of a foreign material) within another material to form a decorative design.
    • The body of the Scriptures hath in it limbs taken from other bodies; and in the vvord of God, are the vvords of other men, other authors, inlaid & inſerted. But, this vvork is onely vvhere the Holy Ghoſt is the VVorkman: It is not for man to inſert, to inlay other vvords into the vvord of God.1617 March 1 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), John Donne, “A Lent-sermon Preached at Whitehall, February 20. 1617”, in XXVI. Sermons (Never before Publish’d) Preached by that Learned and...
  2. To place an inlay in a tooth.
    • Porcelain inlaying is a grand thing in certain cases, and it is much to be regretted that the present existing circumstances do not warrant its being used more extensively.1895, Benjamin Holliday Catching, Catching's Compendium of Practical Dentistry - Volume 5, page 159

See all 5 meanings of inlay

Words formed from inlaid

Words that rhyme with inlaid

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about inlaid

What does inlaid mean?
Inlaid means set into a surface in a decorative pattern.
What is inlaid the simple past and past participle of?
Inlaid is the simple past and past participle of inlay.
What part of speech is inlaid?
Inlaid is an adjective.

Words near inlaid in the dictionary

  1. INLA
  2. inlace
  3. inlaced
  4. inlaces
  5. inlacing
  6. inlaid
  7. inlamb
  8. inland
  9. Inland Empire
  10. inland hairstreak
  11. inland hairstreaks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: inlaid (page history and authors); inlay (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “inlaid.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/inlaid. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.