inset
Americannoun
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something inserted; insert.
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a small picture, map, etc., inserted within the border of a larger one.
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the act of setting in.
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a piece of cloth or other material set into a garment, usually as an ornamental panel.
verb (used with object)
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to set in or insert, as an inset.
to inset a panel in a dress.
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to insert an inset in.
to inset a mounting with jewels.
verb
noun
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something inserted
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printing
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a small map or diagram set within the borders of a larger one
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another name for insert
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a piece of fabric inserted into a garment, as to shape it or for decoration
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a flowing in, as of the tide
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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insetsimple
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insetssimple
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have insetperfect
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has insetperfect
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am insettingprogressive
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are insettingprogressive
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is insettingprogressive
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have been insettingperfect progressive
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has been insettingperfect progressive
Past
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insetsimple
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had insetperfect
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was insettingprogressive
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were insettingprogressive
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had been insettingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of inset
before 900; Middle English insetten to insert, Old English insettan to initiate; see in- 1, set
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
They act as deep coffers for the inset skylights, recalling Kahn’s Yale museum, while their V-shaped section gives them a central channel in which the mechanical systems are concealed, performing their duties unseen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025
"Today we had an inset day so I played Roblox and spoke to my cousin who lives far away," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2025
The infamous Bronco chase caused one television station to rearrange coverage of an NBA Finals game, featuring the chase on the main screen and the game as an inset.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 11, 2024
Indicating the origin of an inset from an image is minimal; providing intensity scales for grayscale, color, and pseudocolor is recommended; and annotating image details such as pixel size and exposure time are ideal.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2023
At least, she was allowing someone else’s name to be inset upon the door of her office.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
Eva Slater’s 1954 “Galaxy” insets a syncopated network of painted forms within a wooden panel, merging optical motion with material stasis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2024
“Reflecting Wave” swirls on the wall as if about to break, while the less naturalistic “Reflecting Pool” insets small mirrors into a picture whose basic diamond shape is softened by oceanic tendrils.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 25, 2022
And the wood, of course, is perfection: Alaskan yellow cedar posts, Western red cedar beams, entry stairs with bamboo insets — with all wooden joints shaped by hand, by Makoto.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 24, 2021
Two gray ceramic hoops by Manal Kara, with photo-printed cotton insets, are weirdly charming, while Walter Price’s drawing “Eye Witness” is transfixing but inconclusive.
From New York Times ● Feb. 24, 2021
The red insets were now tamped in with the trowel-handle, the unique round edges appearing without a touch of stain.
From Child and Country A Book of the Younger Generation by Comfort, Will Levington
A gale nearly swamped them in rounding Cape Alexander, south of which they were forced to shore by the insetting ice-pack.
From True Tales of Arctic Heroism in the New World by Greely, Adolphus W.
This system of insetting has the grave inconvenience that the advertiser finds himself compelled to print as many insets as the publisher asserts that he can use.
From The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia Volume 1 of 28 by Project Gutenberg
First builded into the etheric form in the womb of the mother, it is built up continually by the insetting of fresh materials.
From Death—and After? by Besant, Annie Wood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
