Word.ws English Dictionary

setting alight

setting alight is the present participle and gerund of set alight.

Meaning of set alight

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To cause (something) to begin to burn.
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To arouse passion in (someone); to excite.
    • Each chapel had its saintly shrine, hung around with offerings; its picture above the altar, although closely veiled, if by any painter of renown; and its hallowed tapers, burning continually, to set alight the devotion of the worshippers.1860, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Burial Chant”, in The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni. […], volume I, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 227

Questions about setting alight

What is setting alight the present participle and gerund of?
Setting alight is the present participle and gerund of set alight.

Words near setting alight in the dictionary

  1. setting adrift
  2. setting afire
  3. setting after
  4. setting against
  5. setting ahead
  6. setting alight
  7. setting an example
  8. setting apart
  9. setting aright
  10. setting aside
  11. setting at defiance

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: setting alight (page history and authors); set alight (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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