Word.ws English Dictionary

laying it on thick

laying it on thick is the present participle of lay it on thick.

Meaning of lay it on thick

Verb

lay it on thick (third-person singular simple present lays it on thick, present participle laying it on thick, simple past and past participle laid it on thick)

  1. (idiomatic) To exaggerate or overstate a feeling or emotion.
    • She really laid it on thick when her pet died.
  2. (idiomatic) To flatter.
    • He knew he needed to lay it on thick in his job interview.
  3. (idiomatic) To guilt, guilt-trip.
    • Her mother laid it on thick, telling her to call home more often.

Questions about laying it on thick

What is laying it on thick the present participle of?
Laying it on thick is the present participle of lay it on thick.

Words near laying it on thick in the dictionary

  1. laying in
  2. laying in ashes
  3. laying in lavender
  4. laying into
  5. laying it on
  6. laying it on thick
  7. laying low
  8. laying odds
  9. laying off
  10. laying on
  11. laying on of hands

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: laying it on thick (page history and authors); lay it on thick (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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