- present participle of set.
setting
Americannoun
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settings
plural
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the act of a person or thing that sets.
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the surroundings or environment of anything.
The garden was a perfect setting for the house.
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the mounting in which a jewel is set.
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a group of all the articles, as of china, silver, or glass, required for setting a table or a single place at a table.
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the locale or period in which the action of a novel, play, film, etc., takes place.
The setting of this story is Verona in the 15th century.
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Also called stage setting. Also called stage set. the scenery and other properties used in a dramatic performance.
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Music.
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a piece of music composed for certain words.
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a piece of music composed for a particular medium, or arranged for other than the original medium.
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noun
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the surroundings in which something is set; scene
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the scenery, properties, or background, used to create the location for a stage play, film, etc
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music a composition consisting of a certain text and music provided or arranged for it
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the metal mounting and surround of a gem
diamonds in an antique gold setting
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the tableware, cutlery, etc, for a single place at table
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any of a series of points on a scale or dial that can be selected to control the level as of temperature, speed, etc, at which a machine functions
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a clutch of eggs in a bird's nest, esp a clutch of hen's eggs
Synonym Usage
See environment.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of setting
First recorded in 1375–1425; Middle English; see origin at set, -ing 1
Explanation
A setting is where something is set, or placed. If you want to propose to your beloved, try to choose a romantic setting. To set means to put in place, so a setting is a placement. If you are a jeweler, you will spend a lot of time making silver and gold settings for precious stones. Setting can also mean context. If you tell me that you spent the whole weekend cooing and clucking, before I decide that you’re crazy, you might explain to me that the setting of that clucking was the birth of all the little chicks on your friend’s farm.
Vocabulary lists containing setting
PARCC: Language of the Test (Grade7)
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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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.
See Examples For:
Readers flocked to a Wikipedia page about existential risk from artificial intelligence, which saw a more than 10-fold increase in page views, setting a record for the article.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
The countries have repeatedly failed to agree a unified system for sharing stock and setting catch limits in line with scientific advice.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Watching Petit step onto the wire lets us see them differently, not as the site of catastrophe but as the setting for something beautiful and absurdly daring.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Jean Chatzky — author of the new book “The Forever Paycheck,” which makes the case for setting up guaranteed retirement income — is considering these as a part of her own portfolio.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
The next band is setting up when I sense someone next to me.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Rapid searches, repeated refreshing, blocking scripts or cookies, and privacy tools that alter browser settings can have a similar effect.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
Ms Richards said: "Our midwives are stretched, and quite often that is often impacted into the postnatal care, into the community settings."
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
It may also have potential as a supportive, non-pharmacological approach in clinical settings, particularly for conditions such as anxiety disorders or depression, which can involve disrupted autonomic regulation and altered responses to reward.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
HPE CFO Marie Myers told MarketWatch that customers are both upgrading data centers to meet new workload demands and moving to adopt AI in enterprise settings.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
In my opinion, if the world were perfect, everyone would wear lab coats in educational settings, but that obviously was not happening.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
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.
