set back
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb (transitive):
- To cost a specific, often significant, amount of money: To cause someone to have to pay a certain sum.
- To delay or hinder progress or development: To cause a delay or reversal in advancement.
- To postpone or schedule for a later time: To arrange for something to occur at a later date than originally planned.
Usage Examples
- Verb:
- The necessary repairs set me back nearly a thousand dollars.
- The bad weather set back the construction project by several weeks.
- We had to set back the meeting until everyone was available.
Advanced Usage
- "to set someone/something back": Often implies an unexpected cost, delay, or reversal.
- The legal dispute set the company's expansion plans back by years.
- That luxury vacation really set my savings back.
Variants and Related Words
- Setback (noun): A problem that makes progress more difficult or success less likely.
- The loss of funding was a major setback for the research team.
Synonyms
- Cost: To require a payment of.
- Delay: To make something happen later than planned.
- Postpone: To decide that something will happen at a later time.
- Hinder: To make it difficult for something to progress.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Hold back: To prevent something or someone from advancing.
- Injuries held back the athlete's career.
- Push back: To reschedule to a later time (similar to the "postpone" meaning).
- They pushed back the deadline to Friday.
Related Idioms
- Put someone out of pocket: To cost someone money (related to the "cost" meaning).
- The car repairs really put me out of pocket.
- Throw a spanner in the works: To cause an unexpected problem that delays or ruins a plan (related to the "hinder" meaning).
- The sudden resignation of the manager threw a spanner in the works.
Verb
- cost a certain amount
- My daughter's wedding set me back $20,000
- slow down the progress of; hinder
- His late start set him back
- hold back to a later time
- let's postpone the exam