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set back (third-person singular simple present sets back, present participle setting back, simple past and past participle set back)

1. (transitive) To delay or obstruct.

   Coordinate term: hold back

   I expect it will set us back by a day or so, but I think a side trip will be worthwhile.

   Having the mindset that you "can't" reach your goals is only going to set you back.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 51:

     “Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.

2. (transitive) To remove from or allow distance.

   Set it back from the road by twenty or thirty feet.

   • 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 273, about Mallwyd:

     Roads from Machynlleth, Dolgellau and Welshpool meet at Mallwyd, but this tiny village is set back from passing traffic and retains its atmosphere of charm and tranquillity.

3. (transitive) To install or position behind a boundary or surface, or in a recess.

   Coordinate term: inset

   The statue was set back in a niche.

4. (transitive, idiomatic) To cost money.

   How much do you suppose that fancy dress set her back?

   • 2026 April 21, Cal Flyn, “On the trail with the hunters who believe shooting big game can save Africa’s wildlife”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     When you shoot an animal in Mozambique, as in many African countries, you must pay a predetermined sum. Stones offers the menu on his website: impalas ($600) and warthogs ($700) are the bargain basement. He could arrange for you to shoot a crocodile or even a hippopotamus, if you so wish, for a mere $5,800. A leopard – currently classed as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature − will set you back $11,650. A lion? $25,000. Lions, Stones noted drily, are “not something you dish out like doughnuts”.

5. To reverse, go backwards.

   Coordinate terms: back out, back up, go back

   • 1939 December, John D. Hewitt, “Some Notable British Main Lines: II. Salisbury and Exeter, S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 412:

     Before the platforms were extended up to the actual junction, branch trains had to set back into a bay.

• setback (noun)

• backest, backets, backset