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Synonyms

set in motion

Idioms  

  1. Start something moving, give impetus to something, as in A press conference set the new project in motion. It is also put as set the wheels in motion, as in Let's set the wheels in motion for the new library wing. This idiom dates from about 1800. It was preceded by put in motion, which dates from the mid-1600s.

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.

In fact, it vanished all together - setting in motion a mystery which has taken 200 years to resolve.

From BBC

A lot of things that nobody can predict or control have been set in motion.

From The Wall Street Journal

His death set in motion the US invasion of Panama four days later, on 20 December.

From BBC

In just a month’s time, the small band of appointees had set in motion its destruction.

From Salon

Despite this error, a new Cambridge study explains that the map's appearance in print helped set in motion ideas about territory and borders that still influence thinking today.

From Science Daily

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.