sets back

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To delay or obstruct.
   • I expect it will set us back by a day or so, but I think a side trip will be worthwhile.
2. (transitive) To remove from or allow distance.
   • Set it back from the road by twenty or thirty feet.
3. (transitive) To install or position behind a boundary or surface, or in a recess.
   • The statue was set back in a niche.
4. (idiomatic, transitive) To cost money.
   • How much do you suppose that fancy dress set her back?
5. To reverse, go backwards.
   • Before the platforms were extended up to the actual junction, branch trains had to set back into a bay.1939 December, John D. Hewitt, “Some Notable British Main Lines: II. Salisbury and Exeter, S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 412