set out
Britishverb
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to present, arrange, or display
he set the flowers out in the vase
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to give a full account of; explain exactly
he set out the matter in full
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to plan or lay out (a garden, etc)
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(intr) to begin or embark on an undertaking, esp a journey
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Begin an earnest attempt, as in He set out to prove his point , or We accomplished what we set out to do . [Late 1800s]
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Lay out systematically, as in She set out all the reports in chronological order . [Second half of 1500s]
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Display for exhibition or sale, as in The Japanese restaurant set out samples of all the different kinds of sushi . [c. 1300]
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Plant, as in It was time to set out the seedlings . [Early 1800s]
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Begin a journey, as in They set out at dawn . [Late 1500s]
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.
A research team led by Stefan Kiebel, Professor of Cognitive Computational Neuroscience at TUD, set out to examine that question in a large-scale study.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 13, 2026
Sosa set out to buy groceries for the free-meal program he runs five days a week for about 350 mostly elderly people, using donations from friends and relatives in the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Boney Island, a playful homage to Coney Island, was born in the late 1990s when Polizzi set out to build a Halloween attraction in his Sherman Oaks front yard for his family and neighbors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
A source said the Justice Secretary Alex Norris would set out "in due course" how the government would exclude Cole and Bowers from early release.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
“Although sick, she is full of life and smiles, and I know she will accomplish what she has set out to do.”
From "At Last She Stood" 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.
