Can
Can verb - To let go from office, service, or employment.
Usage example: the cashier was summarily canned for stealing from the registers
Lay off
Lay off verb - To bring (as an action or operation) to an immediate end.
Usage example: you need to lay off eating those jelly doughnuts, or you'll end up looking like one
Mutual synonyms
Both terms in one sentence
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Losing a deal can result in financial problems, or a company having to lay off people or in ways not anything to do with money like failing a class or having a house set on fire.
Source: Anime / [C] - Control - Her idea is that by sealing one of the most dangerous Lost Logia known to the TSAB, she can get them to lay off on Alicia.
Source: Fan Fic / Game Theory (Fan Fic) -
Even Evil Has Standards: Zee can only watch Bones bully DJ for so long before telling him to lay off.
Cite this Source
Lay off and Can. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/can/lay_off
Can & Lay off. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/can/lay_off>.
Lay off or Can. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/can/lay_off.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "can" and "lay off" have occurred on timeline