as in to expand
to use or develop (something) to get something else that has greater value
He hoped to parlay his basketball skills into a college scholarship.
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Recent Examples of parlay
Her attempts to parlay her public entanglement with Emily into a writing career haven’t quite worked, with her agent (Alex Newell) lamenting the fact that nobody wants to buy the book because everyone knows the ending.
—
Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 7 Mar. 2025
The 49ers, who’ve relished fifth-round picks under coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch since 2017, selected Samuel in the 2019 second round and parlayed his talents into four deep playoff runs before last season’s 6-11, last-place spiral.
—Cam Inman, The Mercury News, 3 Mar. 2025
Listen to this article Sam Darnold parlayed his breakout season into a major payday.
—Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 10 Mar. 2025
Beattie parlayed Faria’s pop-up successes into a brick-and-mortar bakery at 3417 Broadway in Sacramento’s North Oak Park neighborhood, then expanded to the Folsom location in September 2022.
—Benjy Egel, Sacramento Bee, 6 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for parlay
Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 7 Mar. 2025
The 49ers, who’ve relished fifth-round picks under coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch since 2017, selected Samuel in the 2019 second round and parlayed his talents into four deep playoff runs before last season’s 6-11, last-place spiral.
—Cam Inman, The Mercury News, 3 Mar. 2025
Listen to this article Sam Darnold parlayed his breakout season into a major payday.
—Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 10 Mar. 2025
Beattie parlayed Faria’s pop-up successes into a brick-and-mortar bakery at 3417 Broadway in Sacramento’s North Oak Park neighborhood, then expanded to the Folsom location in September 2022.
—Benjy Egel, Sacramento Bee, 6 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for parlay
Recent Examples of Synonyms for parlay
Verb
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For 2024, the list was expanded to 450 companies and looked at their emissions between 2020 and 2022.—
Elizabeth Weise,
USA Today,
22 Apr. 2025
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Read: The Last of Us and the power of video games One of the best things about the TV adaptation has been its ability to expand past the limits of the game’s storytelling.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
21 Apr. 2025
Verb
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His term would be up around the end of May but it had been widely rumored that the White House could take steps to keep him on or extend his employment status in some way.—
Allison Pecorin,
ABC News,
14 Apr. 2025
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Given that half of these coal plants would probably cost too much to upgrade and continue operating, the contribution from extending the lifetimes of active coal plants would fall to something below 5%.—
Ian Dexter Palmer,
Forbes.com,
14 Apr. 2025
Verb
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The improved coding and long-context capabilities could accelerate software development cycles, enabling developers to tackle more complex problems, analyze legacy code more effectively, or generate code documentation and tests more efficiently.—
Janakiram MSV,
Forbes.com,
15 Apr. 2025
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The blaze accelerated quickly because of the Molotov cocktails, Enterline said.—
Christopher Cann,
USA Today,
14 Apr. 2025
Verb
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In 2022, a consortium of private retirement-plan providers announced a collaboration to boost the portability of small retirement accounts.—
Daniel de Visé,
USA Today,
20 Apr. 2025
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With the new terminal, Galveston aims to boost that number and attract additional cruise lines and routes to the Texas Gulf Coast.—
Nicholas Creel,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Those unused hours can, however, be converted to service credit to increase their government pensions.—
Melody Gutierrez,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Apr. 2025
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What Murray did in the second half was increase his aggression off the dribble.—
Tony Jones,
New York Times,
20 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Lowering these hormones became a critical part of keeping the cancer from developing further.—
Jenna Ryu,
SELF,
10 Apr. 2025
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To resolve this issue, researchers have been developing new ways to train machine learning algorithms with fewer labels.—
Eloy Geenjaar,
The Conversation,
10 Apr. 2025
Verb
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The most successful implementations use technology to augment human capabilities, providing tools that help people work more efficiently rather than avoiding challenges altogether.—
AJ Bubb,
Forbes.com,
17 Apr. 2025
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Brynjolfsson, in his Daedalus article, suggested changing the tax system to give businesses more incentive to invest in technology that augments labor rather than replaces it.—
John Cassidy,
New Yorker,
14 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Dark hardwood floors stretch over to the formal dining area, which sits opposite the chef’s kitchen.—
Demetrius Simms,
Robb Report,
10 Apr. 2025
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Because your stomach stretches, moves, and flexes more than other areas, Ellis notes, navel piercings can be more prone to irritation than other piercings and can have a longer healing process.—
Marianne Mychaskiw,
Allure,
9 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Parlay.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/parlay. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.
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