splay

They’re easily startled and may arch their back and splay their hands, as if to say, “The world is stressful for me.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2025

By analyzing 42 sediment cores, they found stratigraphic evidence of the 1964 earthquake and a secondary shift caused by the splay fault.

From Science Daily ● May 20, 2024

Too many such cells caused the sepals to splay and expose the petals prematurely.

From Science Magazine ● Aug. 23, 2023

Branches splay out widely and become roosting places for choirs of myna birds.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 10, 2023

His stiff forelegs splay out to the sides like stilts, for he’s been caught in the act of reaching down for water.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

This is a woman who has the world where she wants it, and who laughs blithely throughout our chat – even when discussing the terrifying anxieties she nightly splays across the stage.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 20, 2019

There are echoes, too, of Trish Brown’s gravity-defying dances with ropes and harnesses — especially when Ms. Bauer climbs a huge charred tree and splays her body horizontally.

From New York Times ● Mar. 21, 2019

Sediment that breaches the levees during flood stage is called crevasse splays delivering silt and clay into the floodplain.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017

The anole splays its little lizard fingers to break its fall as it hurtles face-first onto the ground.

From Slate ● Oct. 23, 2014

It splays across the hot cement and dangles near the toes of her sneakers.

From "Hello, Universe" by Erin Entrada Kelly

All lay splayed on the sidewalk, one a couple blocks from my home, the other two, blocks apart, closer to the market, itself located in a neighborhood where need is evident.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026

Inside a room filled with objects that would make every Apple nerd’s brain explode, the guts of the very first iPhone were splayed out in front of Tim Cook.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 5, 2026

Back in my room, I lay in bed and splayed out the cash in my hand, sending a photo of the bounty to my wife, who was surely fast asleep.

From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2025

The tires of his car are splayed out and he appears to be about to careen off his corner pedestal straight into traffic.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2025

“Whoa!” he says, hands splayed flat on the windows.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

Images from the scene show a mangled heap of scaffolding and concrete splaying out onto the street, covered by green safety netting.

From BBC ● May 24, 2026

On her knees, she bows, splaying her arm in praise.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2025

A blue face staring blankly from a shelf; a green spiderlike machine splaying its legs out of a basket on the ground; a delicate dragonfly robot balanced on a worktable.

From New York Times ● Jan. 6, 2023

Like a shot of someone from Team Ukraine competing in artistic swimming at the world championships in Hungary, droplets of water splaying every which way off her body while she competes for a war-torn country.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 23, 2022

The little creature flops down on a nearby cushion, her legs splaying in all directions.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton