SET ABOUT

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does set about mean? 

• SET ABOUT (verb)
  The verb SET ABOUT has 3 senses:

1. begin to deal with

2. enter upon an activity or enterprise

3. take the first step or steps in carrying out an action

  Familiarity information: SET ABOUT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SET ABOUT (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Begin to deal with

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

approach; go about; set about

Context example:

approach a new project

Hypernyms (to "set about" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "set about"):

confront; face; face up (deal with (something unpleasant) head on)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s VERB-ing

Sense 2

Meaning:

Enter upon an activity or enterprise

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

attempt; set about; undertake

Hypernyms (to "set about" is one way to...):

initiate; pioneer (take the lead or initiative in; participate in the development of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s VERB-ing

Sense 3

Meaning:

Take the first step or steps in carrying out an action

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

begin; commence; get; get down; set about; set out; start; start out

Context example:

Let's get down to work now

Verb group:

begin (begin to speak, understand, read, and write a language)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "set about"):

recommence (begin again)

strike out (set out on a course of action)

fall (begin vigorously)

jump off (set off quickly, usually with success)

get to (arrive at the point of)

auspicate (commence in a manner calculated to bring good luck)

attack (set to work upon; turn one's energies vigorously to a task)

break in (start in a certain activity, enterprise, or role)

launch; plunge (begin with vigor)

come on (occur or become available)

embark; enter (set out on (an enterprise or subject of study))

bestir oneself; get cracking; get going; get moving; get rolling; get started; get weaving (start to be active)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE
Somebody ----s VERB-ing

Sentence example:

They set about moving

 Context examples 

But I complained no more and set about making a tent of the sail for Maud.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

So that, in fact, you see, if people do but know how to set about it, every comfort may be as well enjoyed in a cottage as in the most spacious dwelling.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

He re-entered the log-house and set about counting up the stores as if nothing else existed.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

You are getting to be rather conceited, my dear, and it is quite time you set about correcting it.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

After the involuntary shrinking consequent on the first nauseous whiff, we one and all set about our work as though that loathsome place were a garden of roses.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Then she went back to the house, and having helped herself and Toto to a good drink of the cool, clear water, she set about making ready for the journey to the City of Emeralds.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Neither would Mr. Knightley's downright, decided, commanding sort of manner, though it suits him very well; his figure, and look, and situation in life seem to allow it; but if any young man were to set about copying him, he would not be sufferable.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“That is the problem which we have to solve,” Holmes answered, and for my part I shall set about it by presuming that my reasoning is correct, and that a double murder has been committed.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Her eyes should be darker, but she has a sweet smile; but as for this wonderful degree of improvement, I am sure it may all be resolved into a better style of dress, and your having nobody else to look at; and therefore, if you do set about a flirtation with her, you never will persuade me that it is in compliment to her beauty, or that it proceeds from anything but your own idleness and folly.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

He cooked breakfast in the darkness, and at nine o'clock, when, with the coming of daylight, the wolf-pack drew back, he set about the task he had planned through the long hours of the night.

(White Fang, by Jack London)