settle down
Britishverb
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(also tr) to make or become quiet and orderly
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(often foll by to) to apply oneself diligently
please settle down to work
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to adopt an orderly and routine way of life, take up a permanent post, etc, esp after marriage
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Begin living a stable, orderly life; also, marry. For example, After traveling all over the world for years, he decided to settle down in his home town , or Her parents wished she would settle down and raise a family . [Early 1600s]
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Become calm, less nervous, or less restless, as in Come on, children, it's time to settle down . [Mid-1800s]
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Apply oneself seriously, as in If you don't settle down to your homework, you'll never get it done . [First half of 1800s]
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.
But he has chosen to keep his prices stable and thinks that “the Middle East will settle down and things will all come back in line.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
They then relocated to Texas a few months after lockdown—explaining at the time that they realized they wanted to settle down in a place where their kids could spend more time in nature.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
On the nostalgic piano ballad “Good Morning,” he imagines what it might be like to settle down somewhere “with a dog and a wife.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
The 19-year-old Italian let the race settle down before remorselessly homing in on the Ferrari and blasting past Hamilton on the Hangar Straight on lap eight after strategically saving his battery charge.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
The class pretends to settle down to its work, but of course, everyone is stealing glances at Carla and me.
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
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.
