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Synonyms

set about

British  

verb

  1. to start or begin

  2. to attack physically or verbally

"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
set about Idioms  

  1. Begin, start, as in How do we set about solving this puzzle? [c. 1600]

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.

So, they set about putting adverts in papers across the country, posing as a couple desperate to adopt a child.

From BBC

He started asking questions, and I set about explaining some of the words, like “estuary” and “salinity.”

From Literature

"This team can perform better," he said on his presentation, and immediately set about proving it.

From Barron's

Those experiences helped pave the way for Coinbase, which set about to solve a problem that confounded those eager to invest in cryptocurrencies: There was no place for people to store their digital assets.

From The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Chiasson sets about peeling back the layers on the palimpsest of Mr. Sanders’s life.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.