How to Use lie in wait in a Sentence

lie in wait

idiom
Definition of lie in waitnext
  • The Clippers are a handful and their time is now, but the Mavericks lie in wait.
    — Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas News, 15 Aug. 2020
  • Of the many ways to discover the wonders that lie in wait, one of the best might be by bicycle.
    — Outside Online, 8 June 2022
  • Senegal, the most complete team Africa has sent to a tournament for more than a decade, may lie in wait in the last 16.
    — Rory Smith, New York Times, 1 Apr. 2022
  • The park's tree-climbing lions often lie in wait on the branches of sycamores, while leopards skulk in the tall grasses.
    — Gina Decaprio Vercesi, Travel + Leisure, 20 Mar. 2021
  • The structure contains small holes where the ants lie in wait, invisible.
    — Discover Magazine, 29 June 2010
  • Those eager to see what breakthroughs lie in wait for the Webb mission will require some patience.
    — NBC News, 8 Jan. 2022
  • And new perils lie in wait that could escalate or prolong the outbreak.
    — Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2021
  • These vaccines also induce production of B-cells and helper T-cells, which lie in wait.
    — Steve Brozak, Forbes, 21 Oct. 2021
  • Aziza, a spirit and god cast into Osunde’s pages who likes to sweep people up and place them in a netherworld, is just the kind of being to lie in wait.
    — Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2022
  • But don't place the feeder under strong branches that can be used by cats who may lie in wait for unsuspecting birds.
    — Rita Pelczar, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 Oct. 2021
  • What kinds of devious new products lie in wait now that Big Tech is convinced of its omniscience?
    — Firmin Debrabander, The New Republic, 24 Dec. 2020
  • The new Hammerhead mine is designed to lie in wait on the seabed floor, listening for the telltale signs of enemy submarines.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 23 Oct. 2020
  • Called Comet Interceptor, the mission would launch to a stable point in Earth orbit and then lie in wait for a fitting target.
    — Korey Haynes, Discover Magazine, 20 June 2019
  • Baker and Abtey could not lie in wait forever, though, and a former commander at the Bureau, Paul Paillole, had a job for them.
    — Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2022
  • Other treasures lie in wait for more mercenary scavengers, whose paths Mr. Kamysh and his companions cross from time to time.
    — Benjamin Shull, WSJ, 20 May 2022
  • Other infantry teams lie in wait with surface-to-air missiles to take down Russian helicopters.
    — Missy Ryan, Isabelle Khurshudyan and Michael Birnbaum, The Washington Post, Anchorage Daily News, 19 July 2023
  • Other infantry teams lie in wait with surface-to-air missiles to take down Russian helicopters.
    — Michael Birnbaum, Washington Post, 18 July 2023
  • Because of the friction points and the complicated user onboarding, scammers just lie in wait, waiting for the right time to pounce on their newfound prey.
    — Michael Peres, Rolling Stone, 17 Nov. 2022
  • This works well for the ambush predator, which lie in wait until their prey—often fish or crustaceans—come within striking distance.
    — National Geographic, 11 June 2020
  • Belgian Malinois guard dogs lie in wait for anyone who manages to jump the property’s massive iron fence.
    — Amanda Mull, The Atlantic, 26 Oct. 2020
  • There, friendly faces, painful secrets and ancient histories lie in wait, as do the sights and sounds of a natural world in richly suggestive bloom.
    — Los Angeles Times, 17 July 2021
  • Without the ability to travel through the cosmos, we’re left to look through telescopes and collect data to determine whether other planets lie in wait.
    — Joshua Hawkins, BGR, 20 Sep. 2022
  • Even more secrets lie in wait within the rock surrounding the bone, which contains impressions of the dinosaurs’ skin and haloes of residue that may have formed as the animals’ soft tissues degraded.
    — Michael Greshko, National Geographic, 17 Nov. 2020
  • Just as ticks lie in wait for an animal to brush past, researchers waited for unlucky humans to discover and report their encounters.
    — Scistarter Team, Discover Magazine, 12 July 2023
  • Poachers lie in wait at river crossings to ambush these animals and saw off their velvet antlers, which are thought to have medicinal properties.
    — National Geographic, 13 Aug. 2020
  • Only a block to the hospital, and now, post-infusion, throngs effuse love, do not seethe with malicious intent, do not lie in wait to make deadly, unexpected moves.
    — Kathleen Ann Goonan, Discover Magazine, 10 Oct. 2012
  • Members of the instigating company would lie in wait in the surrounding streets and alleys, and attack the responding company.
    — Emily Opilo, baltimoresun.com, 24 Nov. 2020
  • Like their celestial spirit animal, the scorpion, Scorpios lie in wait and strike when least expected.
    — Aliza Kelly Faragher, Allure, 31 July 2020
  • Kulhan: Difficulties lie in wait within all major changes.
    — Bob Kulhan, Forbes, 15 June 2021
  • Megalomania and tyranny lie in wait when a leader begins to see themselves as the personification of their nations.
    — Stephen Collinson, CNN, 19 Jan. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lie in wait.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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