Deverbal fromset back.

• IPA^(key):/ˈsɛtbæk/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-ɛtbæk

setback (pluralsetbacks)

1. Anobstacle,delay,disadvantage, orblow(anadverse event which slows down, or prevents progress towards a desired outcome).

   After some initialsetbacks, the expedition went safely on its way.

   • 1996, “Return to Grace”, inStar Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 4, episode14 (Science Fiction),→OCLC:

     DUKAT: I blame no one but myself. I was indiscreet. I compromised myself and have been punished accordingly. If someone under my command had behaved so outrageously, I would do the same thing to him. Besides, I assure you, this is only a temporarysetback. Everything I have lost, I will regain. It's only a matter of time.

   • 2021 November 17, Nop Meechukhun, “Thailand’s Constitutional Court rules Section 1448 of heterosexual marriages lawful, LGBTQ rights groups ‘disappointed’”, inThe Pattaya News‎^[1], Bangkok: The Pattaya News Company Limited, retrieved2021-11-17:

     The Constitutional Court has ruled today, November 17th, that Section 1448 of the Thai Civil and Commercial, stating that “a marriage can take place only between a man and a woman”, is constitutional under the Thai constitutional law. This decision could be a majorsetback for many Thai LGBTQ activist groups’ continued journey of what they call basic human rights to legally allow same-sex marriages in Thailand.

2. (by extension) Any adverse event, defeat, or impediment of progress.
3. (US) The requireddistance between astructure and aroad.
4. (architecture) Astep-likerecession in awall.

   Setbacks were initially used for structural reasons, but now are often mandated by land use codes.

5. Anoffset to thetemperaturesetting of athermostat to cover a period when more or less heating is required than usual.
   • 1980,Popular Science, volume217, number 4:

     Fuel savings from thermostatsetbacks have long been accepted as fact, but little documentation existed to support it.

6. (possiblyarchaic) Abackset; acountercurrent; aneddy.
7. (archaic) A backset; acheck; arepulse; arelapse.

• backest,backets,backset