setback
a check to progress; a reverse or defeat: The new law was a setback.
Architecture. a recession of the upper part of a building from the building line, as to lighten the structure or to permit a desired amount of light and air to reach ground level at the foot of the building.
an act or instance of setting back: A nightly setback of your home thermostats can save a great deal of fuel.
Also set-back. a downward temperature adjustment of a thermostat, especially performed automatically, as by a timer.
Origin of setback
1Other definitions for set-back (2 of 2)
Surveying. the interval by which a chain or tape exceeds the length being measured.
Origin of set-back
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use setback in a sentence
We talked about our lives—hopes and fears, loves, successes, setbacks and failures.
What creeping advances the government has been able to make on some fronts are being matched by setbacks.
Ukraine Rebels Boast About Troops and Tanks Coming from Russia | Jamie Dettmer | August 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTRecently, the comedy legend had suffered a number of personal setbacks.
Robin Williams, Hollywood’s Grand Jester, Is Dead at 63 | Marlow Stern | August 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“Regardless of any tactical setbacks, the real issue is going to be political cohesion in Afghanistan,” he said.
Sure, it wouldn't be easy; even Bassam suffers some setbacks on his quest to single-handedly liberalize Abbudin.
Generic and Superficial ‘Tyrant’ Amerisplains the Middle East | Andrew Romano | June 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
In spite of these setbacks, Susan still saw great promise in the West and resumed her lecturing there.
Susan B. Anthony | Alma LutzThere are setbacks, but then this is true in every form of nervous affection.
Psychotherapy | James J. WalshThere's a distinct wave of depression here—perhaps I'd better say a period of setbacks has come.
The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume II | Burton J. HendrickIt was one of the most serious setbacks which the cause of industrial and social progress and reform ever received.
Theodore Roosevelt | Theodore RooseveltHe had promised Festing to carry on the contract; they had had a number of setbacks, and the accident would cost them much.
The Girl From Keller's | Harold Bindloss
British Dictionary definitions for set back
to hinder; impede
informal to cost (a person) a specified amount
anything that serves to hinder or impede
a recession in the upper part of a high building, esp one that increases the daylight at lower levels
Also called: offset, setoff a steplike shelf where a wall is reduced in thickness
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with setback
Slow down the progress of, hinder, as in The project was set back by the frequent absences of staff members. [First half of 1500s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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