Word.ws English Dictionary

set the pace

set the pace verb: to establish the speed for a group to move at, for example in a race.

Verb

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

  1. To establish the speed for a group to move at, for example in a race.
  2. (idiomatic) To establish a common goal by example.
    • In May 2003, South Africa set the pace by banning thin plastic bags and imposing a tax on thick ones.
    • OpenAI, which ignited the boom, continues to set the pace in many ways. Usage of ChatGPT more than doubled, to 10% of the world’s population.2025 December 11, Charlie Campbell, Andrew R. Chow and Billy Perrigo, “The Architects of AI Are TIME’s 2025 Person of the Year”, in Time

Forms of set the pace

third-person singular presentsets the pace
present participlesetting the pace
past participleset the pace
pastset the pace

Questions about set the pace

What does set the pace mean?
Set the pace means to establish the speed for a group to move at, for example in a race.
What part of speech is set the pace?
Set the pace is a verb.
What is the past tense of set the pace?
The past tense of set the pace is set the pace.

Words near set the pace in the dictionary

  1. set the bar
  2. set the cat among the pigeons
  3. set the heather alight
  4. set the heather on fire
  5. set the land
  6. set the pace
  7. set the record straight
  8. set the scene
  9. set the stage
  10. set the table
  11. set the Thames on fire

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: set the pace (page history and authors). 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-set the pace.ogg.

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