How to use splay in a sentence

12 example sentences · verb, adjective, adverb

Splay means to spread, spread apart, or spread out (something); to expand. Example: “The tracks are laid with the inner rails only 10 in. apart, except at the half way point (North Walk) where they are splayed out to allow the cars to pass.”

Examples of splay by meaning

verbTo spread, spread apart, or spread out (something); to expand.

The tracks are laid with the inner rails only 10 in. apart, except at the half way point (North Walk) where they are splayed out to allow the cars to pass.1951 August, P. W. Gentry, “Cliff Railways”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 515

adjectiveTurned outward; spread out.

to sit splay-legged

More sentences with splay

She assumed the Asian squat, feet splayed, sucking on her cigarette.2009, Christopher G. Moore, Paying Back Jack, New York, NY: Grove Press, →ISBN, page 178. From the entry Asian squat
Every few seconds, another one slumps and splays on the eld.2009, A. J. Jacobs, My Life as an Experiment. From the entry splayer
The shift to a trefled arch above the former scene anticipates the splayed trefled arch in the scene above.2018 March 6, Donna L. Sadler, Touching the Passion — Seeing Late Medieval Altarpieces through the Eyes of Faith, BRILL, →ISBN, page 65. From the entry trefled
The front foot toes are slightly more splayed than those of the hind foot, where they are arranged more tightly together.2017, Alex van den Heever, Tracker Manual. From the entry front foot
He pushed the door open and saw Jud’s splayed feet, his old green workpants, his checked flannel shirt.1983, Stephen King, Pet Sematary, Signet, published 1984, →ISBN, page 398. From the entry workpants
It split and melted and splayed its contents brokenly.1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 125. From the entry brokenly
For another staple, daing na bangus, milkfish is relieved of its bones, splayed and soaked in vinegar overnight for tenderness, then crisped in a pan.2018 March 12, Ligaya Mishan, “Filipino Food Finds a Place in the American Mainstream”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New…. From the entry daing na bangus
He stood with feet splayed, fists resting on his hips as he stared at us from beneath the brim of his Smokey Bear.2013, Glenn Starkey, Amazon Moon, →ISBN, page 36. From the entry smokey bear
Spinner,” she whispered, “God is with us.” Indeed, the thin, sticky pages of The Bible splayed out behind her like an angel’s wings.2002, Adam Prince, “To Pio”, in Jenine Gordon Bockman, editor, Literal Latté: A Journal of Prose, Poetry & Art, volume 8, number 1, New…. From the entry The Bible
With his front paws tucked underneath his chest and his hind legs splayed behind him in a splooting pose, he didn’t appear to have a care in the world.2020 September 21, Paige Sleuth, Arrested in Cherry Hills, Amazon KDP, chapter 6, unpaged. From the entry sploot

Meaning of splay

verb To spread, spread apart, or spread out (something); to expand.
verb To construct a bevel or slope on (something, such as the frame or jamb of a door or window); to bevel, to slant, to slope.
verb To rearrange (a splay tree) so that a desired element is placed at the root.

Full definition of splay

Questions about splay in a sentence

How do you use splay in a sentence?: Splay is used as a verb, adjective and adverb. For example: “The tracks are laid with the inner rails only 10 in. apart, except at the half way point (North Walk) where they are splayed out to allow the cars to pass.”
What is a short sentence with splay?: “to sit splay-legged”
What does splay mean?: Splay means to spread, spread apart, or spread out (something); to expand.

Adapted from Wiktionary: splay (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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