Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use inlay in a sentence

14 example sentences · verb, noun

Inlay means to place (pieces of a foreign material) within another material to form a decorative design. Example: “This antique chair's inlays have been overpainted, but we can restore its finish.”

Examples of inlay by meaning

verbTo place an inlay in a tooth.

  • It is not strange that this principle of inlaying should occur to those men years ago, for it was one of the most ancient of arts and it had been brought well-nigh to perfection.1907, The Pacific Dental Gazette - Volume 15, page 759
  • It is hard to tell whether it was the solid block inlay idea of itself, or else something to help cement to be retained in a cavity, that has brought about inlaying of cavities;1913, The Practical Manual of Dental Casting, Being the Recorded Experiences of Many Able and Eminent Men in the Dental Profession

nounThe material placed within a different material in the form of a decoration.

  • The pedestals are described as having “hand applied ebonized inlay with bell flowers topped by hand carved scrolls and a fluted column.”2018 February 28, Rene Marsh, Ross Levitt, “See HUD’s $31,000 mahogany dining set”, in CNN, archived from the original on 02 Dec 2022

nounThe piece of paper or the booklet inside the case of a compact disc, DVD, or cassette.

  • Putting it all together: the cassette’s been run through a labelling machine, and now this Heath Robinsonesque device adds the inlay and the box in one swift operation, taking about three seconds for each cassette.1987, Barnaby Page, How to copy half a million cassettes (in Crash magazine issue 47, December 1987)

More sentences with inlay

  • This antique chair's inlays have been overpainted, but we can restore its finish.From the entry overpaint
  • This table is made of maple and also has some fruitwood inlays.From the entry maple
  • Interframes are recognized by having metal frames with inlays dropped into machined out areas of the handles.2004 January 1, “Cutting class: William Henry's top-shelf tacticals”, in American Handgunner. From the entry interframe
  • He had the two veneers clamped together and was cutting the inlay pattern with the finest of fretsaws.1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 77. From the entry fretsaw
  • The bombé writing-desk had brass inlay and a marble top, a Bartlett print of Lord Byron's Childe Harold hung above the pristine twin beds.1979, John Le Carré, Smiley's People, Folio Society, published 2010, page 283. From the entry bombé
  • The bombé writing-desk had brass inlay and a marble top, a Bartlett print of Lord Byron’s Childe Harold hung above the pristine twin beds.1979, John Le Carré, Smiley's People, Folio Society, published 2010, page 283. From the entry writing-desk
  • The method adopted for sprueing the wax pattern is much more important to the success of the inlay than is generally realized.1947, The Ney Inlay Book, J. M. Ney Company, page 17. From the entry sprue
  • The smoother and more symmetrical the lines of the margins are, the more perfect will be the union between the inlay and tooth.1913, F. T. Van Woert, Items of Interest, page 403. From the entry overexcess
  • There were sheets of veneer among Jabez Rintle's reserve materials, carefully preserved between weighted boards, and Peter selected pearwood and mahogany to match the table's inlay.1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 76. From the entry pearwood
  • The doors have oval panels with inlay of flowers in vases, surrounded by laureling and a border of chequers filled with alternately with a rosette and a fan ornament.1925, Good Furniture Magazine of Furnishing & Decoration, Volume 25. From the entry laureling

Meaning of inlay

  1. verb To place (pieces of a foreign material) within another material to form a decorative design.
  2. verb To place an inlay in a tooth.
  3. noun The material placed within a different material in the form of a decoration.

Full definition of inlay

Questions about inlay in a sentence

How do you use inlay in a sentence?
Inlay is used as a verb and noun. For example: “This antique chair's inlays have been overpainted, but we can restore its finish.”
What is a short sentence with inlay?
“This table is made of maple and also has some fruitwood inlays.”
What does inlay mean?
Inlay means to place (pieces of a foreign material) within another material to form a decorative design.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: inlay (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use inlay in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/inlay. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.