Synonyms

settle for

British

verb

(intr, preposition) to accept or agree to in spite of dispute or dissatisfaction

"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

settle for Idioms

Accept or be satisfied with as a compromise, as in He really wanted a bigger raise but decided to settle for what they offered. [Mid-1900s]

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:

settle for

In the gym, seeing how massive a pro athlete is drives McBean to never settle for being ordinary.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Not everyone can get the hottest restaurant for a Saturday night; lower-tier members may have to settle for a Tuesday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Albanese said Australia "cannot settle for a short-term boom in capital expenditure and construction".

From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026

If you walk away from a ruined flight, you don’t have to settle for travel credits.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026

I didn’t want to settle for a fake date.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023