set something back

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

a problem
problemWhat's the problem here?
difficultyThe company is having some financial difficulties at the moment.
troubleWe've had a lot of trouble with the new computer system.
hitchThe ceremony went without a hitch.
glitchWe've had a few technical glitches, but I'm confident we'll be ready on time.
hurdleGetting a work permit is only the first hurdle.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Difficult things and people
a (heavy) cross to bearidiom
albatross
ball and chain
bane
be dead meatidiom
be in the clearidiom
bump
chill
equation
hassle
hiccup
hindrance
hot potato
impediment
nut
snag
stumbling block
teaser
teething troubles
thorn in your flesh/sideidiom

setback | American Dictionary

setback
noun[ C ]
us/ˈsetˌbæk/
something that causes delay or stops progress:
Democrats suffered a serious setback in yesterday’s election, losing all three contested seats.

setback | Business English

setback
noun[ C ]
uk /ˈsetbæk/us
something that happens that causes a delay or prevents a process from continuing:
He suffered a setback yesterday in his attempts to take a stake in the mobile phone company.
a setback to/for sthThe new rule was a setback to smaller cable operators thinking of selling to other companies.
a major/serious setback
The decision is the latest in a series of setbacks for the industry.
STOCK MARKET, FINANCE
a fall in prices on a stock or financial market:
The mail order group suffered a 17p setback to 366.5p.
Small companies are less likely to be diversified so setbacks in a single sector are more likely to wipe them out.

Examples of setback

setback
Yet despite the initial optimism surrounding it, the commission almost immediately suffered setbacks.
He suffers early professional setbacks but emerges triumphant by the end of the novel because he has never compromised his own individuality.
But at the same time the suffrage campaign suffered setbacks.
Democratising the public sphere turned out to be a gradual process from within, encompassing a multitude of conflicts and setbacks.
Therefore, the manipulation of setbacks and building to building distances can directly influence social interactions.
Facing it were four divisions, three of which were downcast due to the previous successive setbacks.
Despite this setback, the reformers continued to push their case through an increasingly competitive and radical local press.
The disruption of war was just one setback.
Rather than a mere legislative setback, it marked a successful challenge of the segregationist platform and the establishment of the legal norm of racial equality.
Clientelism came under pressure, but the process suffered several setbacks due to the weakness of civic virtues and the predominance of particularism.
There is very little attention for inconsistencies, contradictions or setbacks as result of power struggles within governments\\conservation bureaucracies.
That is a tribute both to the client's perseverance over many years and setbacks and to its trust in, and encouragement of, the whole team.
Subsequent research on mechanical heart devices for persons with heart disease has seen some progress and noticeable setbacks.
But financial support for public sector agricultural research has suffered a serious setback since the 1980s in both developed and developing countries.
Our exploration of these new techniques has not been without its setbacks.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations withsetback

setback

These are words often used in combination with setback.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

economic setback
The energy shortage and the massive oil price increases of 1979 and 1980 have produced a bitter economicsetback for most developing countries.
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