setup
Americannoun
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setups
plural
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organization; arrangement.
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an act or instance of setting up or getting ready.
The setup of the lights and camera took most of the morning.
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the carriage of the body; bearing.
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a camera position, as for a particular shot.
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everything required for an alcoholic drink except the liquor, as a glass, ice, and soda water, as served to patrons who provide their own liquor.
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Informal.
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an undertaking or contest deliberately made easy.
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a match or game arranged with an opponent who can be defeated without risk or effort.
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an opponent easy to defeat.
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Sports.
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a shot or play that results in a puck, shuttlecock, ball, or balls being so positioned as to provide a player with an easy opportunity for a winning shot.
a playmaker who excels in setups.
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the position of such a puck, ball, etc..
a setup close to and to the left of the goalkeeper.
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the puck, ball, etc., itself.
The wing banged the setup into the goal.
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an arrangement of all the tools, parts, apparatus, etc., necessary for any of various specific jobs or purposes.
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the equipment or items necessary for a particular activity or period; kit.
Each student gets a weekly setup of clean blankets, sheets, and towels.
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a plan or projected course of action.
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a prearranged situation or circumstance, usually created to fool or trap someone; trick; scheme.
Usage
See login.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of setup
First recorded in 1600–10; noun use of verb phrase set up
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:
They argue the setup gives an unfair advantage to those who can afford it, creating a system where market-sensitive information reaches paying clients first.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Another hooked his family to an AI setup to revamp everyone’s diet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
For most creatives, it would be the setup for a single joke.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
On Thursday, Anthropic reported a similar mishap whereby a setup error allowed its Claude models to reach the open internet during safety evaluations and compromise the infrastructure of three real-world organizations.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 2, 2026
It was about the Angels, to be sure, but I couldn’t tell if Crosby was going to savage us or if the title was a setup designed to seduce viewers before overturning their preconceptions.
From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson
Unlike Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, or Hope and Crosby, who relied on tightly scripted setups, this disparate yet kindred duo captured America’s heart by being viscerally, uproariously and unpredictably wild.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
“We see potential for higher consumer sentiment and group valuations ahead,” they say, noting particularly good setups for Dick’s Sporting Goods, Crocs and Adidas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
By the early 1990s, some crews in the U.K. began throwing megaraves more spiritually akin to experiential carnivals than to more lowkey dance-floor-and-DJ setups.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
But this is only a memory — a child’s version of an experience, filmed with all of the bright colors and simple setups of an illustration in a storybook.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026
I was pleasantly surprised when a bunch of kids added their names to volunteer for apartment setups and helping with free music lessons and tutoring for kids.
From "Amina's Song" by Hena Khan
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.
