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• set-back
  set-back

  noun

  the interval by which a chain or tape exceeds the length being measured.
• set back
  set back

  verb

  to hinder; impede

set-back

American  

[set-bak] / ˈsɛtˌbæk /

noun

1. Surveying. the interval by which a chain or tape exceeds the length being measured.

2. setback.

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set back British  

verb

1. to hinder; impede

2. informal to cost (a person) a specified amount

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noun

1. anything that serves to hinder or impede

2. a recession in the upper part of a high building, esp one that increases the daylight at lower levels

3. Also called: offset.   setoff.  a steplike shelf where a wall is reduced in thickness

set back Idioms  

1. Slow down the progress of, hinder, as in The project was set back by the frequent absences of staff members . [First half of 1500s]

2. Cost, as in That car set me back twenty thousand dollars . [ Colloquial ; c. 1900]

3. Change to a lower level or earlier time, as in We set back the thermostat whenever we go on vacation , or On October 10 we have to set back the clocks . [First half of 1600s] Set back the clock is also used figuratively to mean “return to an earlier era,” as in He wished he could set back the clock to those carefree high-school days . Also see set forward .

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Etymology

Origin of set-back

Special use of setback

Example Sentences

"We're disappointed not to go through, albeit against a very good team, but we can't let this set-back affect our future," he said.

From Barron's • Feb. 3, 2026

However, this would-be iron man recently suffered a set-back when he was arrested in the central African nation of Chad.

From BBC • Nov. 27, 2024

In a blog post published today about the delay, the CSA emphasized that this is less a set-back and more an extension to allow development for more platforms.

From The Verge • Mar. 17, 2022

Here the board of the King County Flood Control District, composed of all nine Metropolitan King County Council members, approved in 2013 construction of a set-back levee with a rock-armored shore and steel wall.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 29, 2019

She had a button nose and a hard little set-back chin, a gripping jaw set on its course even though the angels of God argued against it.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck