Word.ws English Dictionary

setting in motion

setting in motion is the present participle and gerund of set in motion.

Meaning of set in motion

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To trigger movement or progress; to get going.
    • Considerable excitement was caused on the L.M.S.R. Aberdeen line out of Perth recently when a shunting engine in Perth North goods yard, whose driver and fireman were absent, was accidentally set in motion by a shunter and set off unattended on to the main line.1941 October, “Notes and News: A Highland Runaway”, in Railway Magazine, page 469

Questions about setting in motion

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

Words near setting in motion in the dictionary

  1. setting forth
  2. setting forward
  3. setting forwards
  4. setting free
  5. setting in
  6. setting in motion
  7. setting in stone
  8. setting in train
  9. setting light
  10. setting loose
  11. setting off

Source and license

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