setback

UK/ˈsɛtbæk/US/ˈsɛtbæk/

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,879 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: setbacks

A setback is a problem that throws your progress backwards. A serious setback, suffer a setback, a temporary setback.

It is the standard word for a reverse that is not final — calling something a setback rather than a failure is a choice about tone as well as facts. Suffer a setback and a major setback are near-fixed phrases in reporting. Note set back as two words, which is the verb: the delay set them back about four months; and that in architecture a setback is the distance a building stands from the road.

Definitions of setback

1nounsetbackA problem that throws progress backwards.B2+
“Losing their best player to injury was a serious setback for the team.”

setback is a reverse in progress.

Where it comes from

a deverbal from set back. Compare drawback.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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setback in the wild

In some cases, building ahead of a setback line may be permitted through special approval.
Setback (land use)
Corrie suffered a setback when he broke his jaw in round 12 in a collision with Essendon Football Club's Dustin Fletcher.
Anthony Corrie
A finger injury once again proved to be a setback to his career.
Anthony Corrie
The results were a setback for the government of Harold Holt.
1967 Australian Senate election
Due to the project's reliance on the Space Shuttle, and the setback of the Columbia disaster, timely launch was unlikely.
Sky Polarization Observatory

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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