as in reversal
a change in status for the worse usually temporarily
the colonists persevered despite suffering setbacks that would have discouraged lesser souls
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in to hold back
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of setback
Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
The latest setback was an ugly 98-86 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night at State Farm Arena that dropped the Heat to ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
—Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 25 Feb. 2025
Mary Logan Bikoff, New York Times, 18 Jan. 2025
Manipulating the exchange rate would set back efforts to internationalize the yuan.
—William Pesek, Forbes, 15 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for setback
Noun
There is no straightforward way for Iran to recover from the setbacks of the last year.
—Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
The latest setback was an ugly 98-86 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night at State Farm Arena that dropped the Heat to ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
—Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 25 Feb. 2025
Verb
In late November, the Iron Horse was set back out to pasture in the cornfield, now in a shiny new coat of black paint, sitting atop a Georgia granite plinth.
—Mary Logan Bikoff, New York Times, 18 Jan. 2025
Manipulating the exchange rate would set back efforts to internationalize the yuan.
—William Pesek, Forbes, 15 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for setback
Recent Examples of Synonyms for setback
Noun
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Instead, multiple headwinds seem to be working in conjunction to cause the sell-off, including a reversal of technical factors that drove the previous rally.—
Lisa Kailai Han,
CNBC,
26 Feb. 2025
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The result showed some diminished support for Ukraine, because previous assembly votes saw more than 140 nations condemn Russia’s aggression, demand an immediate withdrawal, and reversal of its annexation of four Ukrainian regions.—
Edith M. Lederer,
Chicago Tribune,
25 Feb. 2025
Verb
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The biggest mistake a manager can make is hold back on feedback for the sake of preserving an employee’s feelings or making an interaction easier.—
Bruce Tulgan,
Forbes,
20 Feb. 2025
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To make matters worse, the fact that the Blue Jays had offered both Shohei Ohtani and Soto north of $700 million and then held back the dollars in their talks with Guerrero didn’t play well within his camp, which is understandable.—
Jim Bowden,
The Athletic,
19 Feb. 2025
Noun
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The latter stars Brad Pitt as a man born with the physical appearance and ailments of an elderly person, who ages in reverse.—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
12 Feb. 2025
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Spanglish Year: 2004 Runtime: 2 hours 11 minutes Director: James L. Brooks Stars: Adam Sandler, Téa Leoni, and Paz Vega James L. Brooks’s caustic comedy of family and class hits like a dark chocolate in reverse, the bitterness giving way to a faintly sweet finish.—
Charles Bramesco,
Vulture,
10 Feb. 2025
Verb
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And some of the claims Trump and Musk have made about DOGE’s work don’t hold up to scrutiny.—
Clarence Page,
Chicago Tribune,
24 Feb. 2025
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This one is brandished by a masked robber holding up the luxury hotel's store.—
Eliana Dockterman,
TIME,
24 Feb. 2025
Verb
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The opening of the jail had been delayed, the red carpet stored away, the prisoners' transfers into this facility put on hold.—
Keith Sharon,
USA TODAY,
20 Feb. 2025
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Issues like ambiguous requirements cause misalignment and rework, while inadequate testing environments delay validation and debugging.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes,
19 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Prices are on the rise in parts of Texas and Florida, where a homebuilding boom has helped to slow price growth.—
Sami Sparber,
Axios,
25 Feb. 2025
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Any Rockets lineup that features a big and at least one non-shooter is likely to see some form of zone, especially anything to slow down Thompson — who has quickly asserted himself as a star in the making.—
Kelly Iko,
The Athletic,
25 Feb. 2025
Verb
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After her rights were read and she was issued the citation, LeBaron was let out of the vehicle and not detained.—
Gary Warth,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
19 Feb. 2025
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Flores was located in the home and detained without issue.—
Justin Muszynski,
Hartford Courant,
19 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Blockchain thus provides companies and banks a way to undo Basel II’s and Basel III’s retarding effect on trade finance while complying with their requirements.—
Rebecca Liao,
Foreign Affairs,
16 Aug. 2017
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Turning the lithium oxide—the product of discharging the battery—back to lithium is difficult and only partially possible even when assisted by special catalysts: The oxide builds up and retards the process, limiting the number of charge-discharge cycles to a mere handful.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
31 Jan. 2011
Cite this Entry
“Setback.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/setback. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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