set theory

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noun

the branch of mathematics that deals with relations between sets.

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Origin of set theory

First recorded in 1940–45

Words nearby set theory

sett, Settat, settecentesque, settee, setter, set theory, set the pace, set the record straight, set the scene for, set the table, set the wheels in motion

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use set theory in a sentence

For those ready to venture into a little set theory, read on.
Can You Bowl Three Strikes?|Zach Wissner-Gross|June 18, 2021|FiveThirtyEight
When cities started adding chlorine to their water supplies, in the early 1900s, it set off public outcry.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
Submission is set in a France seven years from now that is dominated by a Muslim president intent on imposing Islamic law.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In the last year, her fusion exercise class has attracted a cult following and become de rigueur among the celebrity set.
How Taryn Toomey’s ‘The Class’ Became New York’s Latest Fitness Craze|Lizzie Crocker|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST

I wonder what that lady is doing now, and if she knows what she set in motion with Archer?
‘Archer’ Creator Adam Reed Spills Season 6 Secrets, From Surreal Plotlines to Life Post-ISIS|Marlow Stern|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Empire will be hate-watched and may set off some conversations on its way from fading from our minds.
‘Empire’ Review: Hip-Hop Musical Chairs with an Insane Soap Opera Twist|Judnick Mayard|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
You would not think it too much to set the whole province in flames so that you could have your way with this wretched child.
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini
In the year of misery, of agony and suffering in general he had endured, he had settled upon one theory.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux
I take the Extream Bells, and set down the six Changes on them thus.
Tintinnalogia, or, the Art of Ringing|Richard Duckworth and Fabian Stedman
Dean Swift was indeed a misanthrope by theory, however he may have made exception to private life.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
She set off down Trafalgar Road in the mist and the rain, glad that she had been compelled to walk.
Hilda Lessways|Arnold Bennett

British Dictionary definitions for set theory

set theory

noun

maths the branch of mathematics concerned with the properties and interrelationships of sets

logic a theory constructed within first-order logic that yields the mathematical theory of classes, esp one that distinguishes sets from proper classes as a means of avoiding certain paradoxes

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