lay off

1. 1.

   put an end to a state or an activity

   “Quit teasing your little brother”

   Synonymsdiscontinuestopceasegive upquit

   Narrowerdropleave offsign offretirepull the plugshut offcheesecall it quitsbreak
2. 2.

   dismiss, usually for economic reasons

   “She was laid off together with hundreds of other workers when the company downsized”

   Synonymsfurlough

   Broaderdisplace

   Narrowerdownsize

Questions about lay off

What does lay off mean?

lay off means "put an end to a state or an activity". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for lay off?

Close synonyms include discontinue, stop, cease, give up, quit. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is lay off a common word?

lay off is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.