set about
/sɛt‿əˈbaʊt/
set about verb: used with the adverb sense of about.
Verb
set about (third-person singular simple present sets about, present participle setting about, simple past and past participle set about)
- Used with the adverb sense of about.
- To circulate or spread (news, a rumour, etc.)
- For ſome vveeks before it [Parliament] met there vvas ſuch a number of Refugees coming over every day, vvho ſet about a moſt diſmal recital of the perſecution in France, and that in ſo many inſtances that vvere crying and odious, […]a. 1716 (date written), [Gilbert] Burnet, “Book IV. Of the Reign of King James II.”, in [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], editor, Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. […], volume I, London: […] Thomas Ward...
- To circulate or spread (news, a rumour, etc.)
- To plant trees or other vegetation in (a place).
- [I]ndeede the whole island is a mount ascended by several terraces and walks all set about with orange and citron trees.1646 March, John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for March 1646]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn...
- To encircle or surround (something) with other things.
- Ascending the hill we came to St. Sabina, an ancient fabric, formerly sacred to Diana; there in a Chapel is an admirable picture, the work of Livia Fontana, set about with columns of alabaster, […]1645 February 24 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 15 February 1645]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition...
- To attack (someone); to set upon.
- Two youths set about him.
- Synonyms:
- begin upon
- To start doing or to devote oneself to some task; to set upon.
- He set about designing his homepage.
- She set about the task with a will.
- Synonyms:
- begin upon, undertake, embark on, set to, take in hand
set about meaning in Malayalam
set about in Malayalam
- commence, begin, start
- ചെയ്തുതുങ്ങുക, മുതിരുക, പ്രവർത്തി ആരംഭിക്കുക, പണിതുടങ്ങുക, ആരംഭിക്കുക, ആരംഭം കുറിക്കുക
- assail, attack, assault
- ആക്രമിക്കുക, കടന്നാക്രമിക്കുക, ചാടിവീഴുക, മർദ്ദിക്കുക, പോടുക, ദേഹോപദ്രവമേല്പിക്കുക
Examples of set about in a sentence
- To yᵉ Commissʳˢ of the Navy, who having seene the project of the Infirmary, encourag'd the work, and were very earnest it should be set about immediately; […]1666 March 1 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 20 February 1666]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the...
- Let every man and woman here set about their ain business, as if there was nae sic thing as marquis or master, duke or drake, laird or lord, in this world.1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume II (The Bride of...
- And I will set about explaining what I mean.1865, W[illiam] E[wart] Gladstone, “Place of Ancient Greece in the Providential Order”, in Gleanings of Past Years, 1860–79, volume VII...
- "Then we had best set about our part of the contract," said Hector Marot.1889, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Of the Swordsman with the Brown Jacket”, in Micah Clarke: […], London: Longmans, Green, and Co […], →OCLC...
Synonyms of set about
- begin upon
- undertake
- embark on
- set to
- take in hand
Forms of set about
| third-person singular present | sets about |
|---|---|
| present participle | setting about |
| past participle | set about |
| past | set about |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | settest about |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | settest about |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | setteth about |
Origin of set about
From set (verb) + about (adverb, preposition).
Words that rhyme with set about
42 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- shout
- sprout
- doubt
- umlaut
- fill out
- grout
- pout
- devout
- drought
- gout
- nowt
- redoubt
- throughout
- without
- ablaut
- dout
- flout
- lout
- mahout
- misdoubt
- mought
- prone out
- strout
- term out
- trout
- zoom out
- 'bout
- anlaut
- aspout
- asprout
- bluff out
- chout
- dought
- knout
- kraut
- layabout
- ne'er cast a clout till May be out
- owt
- peter out
- regrout
- sout
- when in doubt, do nowt
Questions about set about
- What does set about mean?
- Set about means used with the adverb sense of about.
- What is set about in Malayalam?
- Set about in Malayalam is ചെയ്തുതുങ്ങുക, മുതിരുക, പ്രവർത്തി ആരംഭിക്കുക. See Set about meaning in Malayalam.
- How do you use set about in a sentence?
- To yᵉ Commissʳˢ of the Navy, who having seene the project of the Infirmary, encourag'd the work, and were very earnest it should be set about immediately; […]
- What part of speech is set about?
- Set about is a verb.
- How do you pronounce set about?
- Set about is pronounced /sɛt‿əˈbaʊt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of set about?
- The past tense of set about is set about.
Words near set about in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: set about (page history and authors); set about (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-set about.wav.
Cite this entry: “set about.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/set_about. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.