Word.ws English Dictionary

lay the groundwork

lay the groundwork verb: to create a foundation; to provide the basics or fundamentals.

Verb

lay the groundwork (third-person singular simple present lays the groundwork, present participle laying the groundwork, simple past and past participle laid the groundwork)

  1. (figuratively, idiomatic) To create a foundation; to provide the basics or fundamentals.
    • The introductory mathematics courses will lay the groundwork for all your subsequent engineering studies.
    • Arrests and prosecutions intensified after Isis captured Mosul in June, but the groundwork had been laid by an earlier amendment to Jordan’s anti-terrorism law. It is estimated that 2,000 Jordanians have fought and 250 of them have died in Syria – making them the third largest Arab contingent in...2014 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 07 Apr 2023

lay the groundwork meaning in Telugu

lay the groundwork in Telugu

To provide the basics
రంగం సిద్ధం చేయు raṅgaṁ siddhaṁ cēyu

Forms of lay the groundwork

third-person singular presentlays the groundwork
present participlelaying the groundwork
past participlelaid the groundwork
pastlaid the groundwork

Questions about lay the groundwork

What does lay the groundwork mean?
Lay the groundwork means to create a foundation; to provide the basics or fundamentals.
What is lay the groundwork in Telugu?
Lay the groundwork in Telugu is రంగం సిద్ధం చేయు (raṅgaṁ siddhaṁ cēyu). See Lay the groundwork meaning in Telugu.
What part of speech is lay the groundwork?
Lay the groundwork is a verb.
What is the past tense of lay the groundwork?
The past tense of lay the groundwork is laid the groundwork.

Words near lay the groundwork in the dictionary

  1. lay speaker
  2. lay speakers
  3. lay store by
  4. lay system
  5. lay the dust
  6. lay the groundwork
  7. lay the hammer down
  8. lay the pipe
  9. lay the smack down
  10. lay the table
  11. lay the wood

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lay the groundwork (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-lay the groundwork.ogg.

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