Lay out
Lay out verb - To present so as to invite notice or attention.
Usage example: for the historic celebration, the museum laid out its full collection of native artifacts
Show
Show verb - To present so as to invite notice or attention.
Usage example: fishing for compliments, the neighbors showed their new SUV to everyone on the block
Lay out is a synonym for show in actively exhibit something topic. Sometimes you can use "Lay out" instead a verb "Show", if it concerns topics such as passively exhibit something.
Mutual synonyms
Both terms in one sentence
- When the cops bring him in, Cole and Norris show him the bag, lay out all the guns, and try to bluff that they found his fingerprints on one of the guns.
Source: Bluffing the Murderer - One way to circumvent this is to show the plan both in its forming and execution: Rather than have two separate scenes (one to lay out The Plan and one to enact it), the scenes are instead edited together as a montage.
Source: Unfolding Plan Montage -
When you want to show the keen, obsidian-sharp mind of a character at work, or lay out their cunning and complex plans out in a Comic Book, Web Comic or similar media, the best way to do it is with a Rebus Bubble.
Source: Rebus Bubble
Cite this Source
Show and Lay out. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/lay_out/show
Lay out & Show. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/lay_out/show>.
Show or Lay out. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/lay_out/show.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "lay out" and "show" have occurred on timeline