# set

> English word · Verb · IPA /sɛt/ · frequency rank #234

## Definitions
1. To put (something) down, to rest.
2. To attach or affix (something) to something else, or in or upon a certain place.
3. To put in a specified condition or state; to cause to be.
4. To start (a fire).
5. To cause to stop or stick; to obstruct; to fasten to a spot.
6. To determine or settle.
7. To adjust.
8. To punch (a nail) into wood so that its head is below the surface.
9. To arrange with dishes and cutlery, to set the table.
10. To introduce or describe.
11. To locate (a play, etc.); to assign a backdrop to, geographically or temporally.
12. To compile, to make (a puzzle or challenge).
13. To prepare (a stage or film set).
14. To fit (someone) up in a situation.
15. To arrange (type).
16. To devise and assign (work) to.
17. To direct (the ball) to a teammate for an attack.
18. To solidify.
19. To render stiff or solid; especially, to convert into curd; to curdle.
20. Of a heavenly body, to disappear below the horizon of a planet, etc, as the latter rotates.
21. To defeat a contract.
22. To begin to move; to go forth.
23. To produce after pollination.
24. To be fixed for growth; to strike root; to begin to germinate or form.
25. To sit (be in a seated position).
26. To rest or lie somewhere, on something, etc.; to occupy a certain place.
27. To hunt game with the aid of a setter.
28. Of a dog, to indicate the position of game.
29. To apply oneself; to undertake earnestly.
30. To fit music to words.
31. To place plants or shoots in the ground; to plant.
32. To become fixed or rigid; to be fastened.
33. To have a certain direction of motion; to flow; to move on; to tend.
34. To acknowledge a dancing partner by facing him or her and moving first to one side and then to the other, while she or he does the opposite.
35. To place or fix in a setting.
36. To put in order in a particular manner; to prepare.
37. To extend and bring into position; to spread.
38. To give a pitch to, as a tune; to start by fixing the keynote.
39. To reduce from a dislocated or fractured state.
40. To sit or lie (easily etc.) on the stomach; to be digested in a certain manner.
41. To lower into place and fix solidly, as the blocks of cut stone in a structure.
42. To wager in gambling; to risk.
43. To adorn with something infixed or affixed; to stud; to variegate with objects placed here and there.
44. To value; to rate; used with at.
45. To establish as a rule; to furnish; to prescribe; to assign.
46. To suit; to become.
47. To cause (a domestic fowl) to sit on eggs to brood.

## Etymology
From Middle English setten, from Old English settan, from Proto-West Germanic *sattjan, from Proto-Germanic *satjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sodéyeti, causative of *sed- (“to sit”).

## Easily confused with
- **so** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-so)
- **SI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-si)
- **SS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-ss)
- **SP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-sp)
- **su** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-su)
- **sf** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-sf)
- **sh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-sh)
- **SM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-sm)
- **SW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-sw)
- **SL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-sl)
- **SG** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-sg)
- **SK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-sk)
- **SV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-sv)
- **SJ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-sj)
- **Sy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-sy)
- **she** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-she)
- **six** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-six)
- **son** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-son)
- **sex** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-sex)
- **sir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/set-vs-sir)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/set