Word.ws English Dictionary

set up

/ˌsɛt ˈʌp/

set up verb: to make ready for use.

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To make ready for use.
    • We set up the sprinkler.
  2. (transitive) To arrange logically.
    • Set up my CD collection.
  3. (transitive) To cause to happen.
    • Even a minor change can set up new bugs.
    • England's famous victory sets up a meeting with Sweden in Samara on Saturday2018 July 3, Phil McNulty, “Colombia 1 - 1 England”, in BBC Sport
  4. (transitive) To trap or ensnare.
    • I've got to set up that tasty rabbit.
  5. (transitive) To arrange for an outcome; to tamper or rig.
    • The election was set up!
  6. (intransitive) To prepare or get ready.
    • Used with an implied object obvious from context.
    • Give me a minute — I'm still setting up.
  7. (intransitive) To gel or harden.
    • Give the cement 24 hours to set up before walking on it.
  8. (intransitive) To level to rise in one part of a body of water, especially a shallow one, because of a storm surge caused by persistent wind.
    • The level set up at the south end of the lake after a day of north winds.
  9. (transitive) To provide the money or other support that someone needs for an important task or activity.
    • Winning the lottery has set them up for life.
    • A good breakfast really sets you up for the day.
  10. (transitive) To establish someone in a business or position.
    • After he left college, his father set him up in the family business.
    • She set herself up as an interior designer.
  11. (informal, transitive) To trick or lure (someone) in order to entrap them.
    • They claimed that they weren't selling drugs, but that they'd been set up by the police.
    Synonyms:
    frame, frame up, put up
  12. (transitive) To make (someone) proud or conceited (often in passive).
    • M. Robespierre looked at me sideways and smiled and said to Madame, ‘You're a young lady after my own heart.’ This set her up for the day.1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, pages 286–7
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  1. (transitive) To matchmake; to arrange a date between two people.
  2. (transitive) To create a goalscoring opportunity (for).
    • Just past the hour Agbonlahor set up the second, crossing for Bent to net.2011 October 1, John Sinnott, “Aston Villa 2 - 0 Wigan”, in BBC Sport
    • On 71.05, Portu brilliantly set up Yangel Herrera, only for Marc-André ter Stegen to make a sensational save.2024 May 6, Sid Lowe, “Portu’s brilliant burst seals Girona’s top-four fairytale in the perfect way”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
  3. (dated, intransitive) To begin business or a scheme of life.
    • to set up in trade; to set up for oneself
  4. To profess openly; to make pretensions.
    • 1744 (first printed) Jonathan Swift, On the Testimony of Conscience
      those men who set up for morality without regard to religion, are generally virtuous but in part
  5. (transitive) To found; to start (a business, scheme)
    • With the help of his wife Bilquis, he set up a maternal health clinic and a centre for abandoned children.2017 April 6, Samira Shackle, “On the frontline with Karachi’s ambulance drivers”, in the Guardian
  6. To deceive an opponent and capitalize on their reactions with a certain technique or maneuver.
    • When you make an opening you merely cause an opponent to uncover a target somewhere on his person. But when you set up an opponent, you knock him off balance with one punch so that he should be an open target for a following punch. Unless he's knocked off balance, he's not set up.1950, Jack Dempsey, chapter 23, in Championship Fighting: Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defense
    • Writer Danny Wamboldt of Ring magazine said, "Only Willie knew how to set up his opponents masterfully and then move in." Wamboldt, a former New England bantamweight champion and current national president of the Veteran Boxers Association, said that one of Pep's opponents said of his dazzling...1997 September 24, Joe Duffy, “TRIBUTES TO THE MAN AND THE BOXER”, in Hartford Courant
  7. To cause to take flight; to flush into the air.
    • Edmund had enjoyed a good gallop over the downs, setting up the sandpipers[.]1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 27
  8. (obsolete) Synonym of compose (To arrange (types) in a composing stick for printing; to typeset)
    Synonyms:
    compose

Adjective

set up (comparative more set up, superlative most set up)

  1. In a position to function; ready.
    • Now that I'm set up, this will take moments!
    Synonyms:
    prepared, ready

set up meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Bengali and Sanskrit

set up in Tamil

அமைப்பு

set up in Marathi

to set up
मांडणे māṇḍṇe
to set up, build
थाटणे thāṭṇe

set up in Bengali

to set up, to spread firmly, to establish
গাড়া gaṛa

set up in Sanskrit

to set up, erect, raise, build
स्थापयति sthāpáyati
More languagesFewer languages
set up in Persian
برپایدن

Synonyms of set up

1 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of set up

Verb
third-person singular presentsets up
present participlesetting up
past participleset up
pastset up
Adjective
comparativemore set up
superlativemost set up

Words formed from set up

Questions about set up

What does set up mean?
Set up means to make ready for use.
What is set up in Tamil?
Set up in Tamil is அமைப்பு. See Set up meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is set up?
Set up can be a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce set up?
Set up is pronounced /ˌsɛt ˈʌp/.
What is the past tense of set up?
The past tense of set up is set up.

Words near set up in the dictionary

  1. set together by the ears
  2. set tool
  3. set tools
  4. set top box
  5. set top boxes
  6. set up
  7. set up camp
  8. set up one's bristles
  9. set up one's rest
  10. set up one's staff
  11. set up shop

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: set up (page history and authors); set up (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); थाटणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); গাড়া (Bengali) (page history and authors); स्थापयति (Sanskrit) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-set up.wav.

Cite this entry: “set up.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/set_up. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.