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

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

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026

"Serena's mindset has always been to be the best and not settle for mediocrity," former world number one Lindsay Davenport, one of Williams' main rivals in the early 2000s, told BBC Sport.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026

Saudi Arabia was 10 minutes away from upsetting Uruguay, only to settle for a tie.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026

But the transactions were cumbersome, slow and unreliable, and Tehran often had to settle for the money staying abroad.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026

We will happily settle for okay, because most of the time, okay is enough.

From "Every Day" by David Levithan

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