set down
Britishverb
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to write down or record
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to judge, consider, or regard
he set him down as an idiot
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(foll by to) to ascribe; attribute
his attitude was set down to his illness
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to reprove; rebuke
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to snub; dismiss
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to allow (passengers) to alight from a bus, taxi, etc
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Place in a lower position, as in Set the baby down here , or Set the bags down on the hall table . [Late 1400s]
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Put in writing, record, as in Just set down all the facts as you remember them . [Second half of 1500s]
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Regard, consider, as in Just set him down as a fool . [Late 1700s]
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Assign to a cause, ascribe, as in Let's set down his error to inexperience . [Early 1800s]
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Land an aircraft, as in The pilot set the plane down hard on the runway . Also see put down .
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.
Tongue-in-cheek title notwithstanding, though, the events of the film aren’t the sort of thing easily set down in a how-to guide.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Buffett was only applying a precept set down by his investment mentor, Benjamin Graham, in his classic primer “The Intelligent Investor.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
The ball-striking was brutal and the win from a set down meant Djokovic would have to wait another year to complete the career Grand Slam.
From BBC ● May 25, 2026
After his Paris triumph, the final part of the trilogy came in New York in 2016, when Wawrinka again beat Djokovic from a set down to win the US Open.
From BBC ● May 25, 2026
Ridge set down his milkshake, picked up the phone, and studied it from every angle, his face bright with curiosity.
From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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.
