Outlay

//ˈaʊtleɪ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A laying out or expending; that which is laid out or expended. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    the act of spending or disbursing money wordnet
  3. 3
    The spending of money, or an expenditure. countable, uncountable

    "Without too much outlay, you could buy a second-hand car."

  4. 4
    money paid out; an amount spent wordnet
  5. 5
    A remote haunt or habitation. archaic, countable, uncountable

    "I know her and her haunts, Her lays, leaps, and outlays, and will discover all."

Verb
  1. 1
    To lay or spread out; expose; display. transitive

    "Their boggy breasts out-lay, and Skipton down doth crawl"

  2. 2
    To spend, or distribute money. transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
outgospendingbudgetcostcost outdisbursal

Example

More examples

"First-time entrepreneurs often underestimate the initial outlay required for launching a new business."

Etymology

From out- + lay.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.