phrasal verb · neutral
set in
/sɛt ˈɪn/SET·in
to begin and be likely to continue for a period of time (often used for weather or unpleasant situations)
Examples
“With winter setting in, the days grew shorter and colder.”
“Panic set in when the evacuation alarm sounded.”
“Once the recession set in, many small businesses struggled.”
Band 8 sentence
“By the time autumn set in, policy-makers were already drafting contingency plans for an extended downturn.”
Collocations
- winter sets in / panic sets in / recession sets in
Word family
Common mistakes
They set in a new policy yesterday.→They introduced/implemented a new policy yesterday.
Rain will set in tomorrow.→Rain will set in tonight/over the weekend (depending on context).
Say it for a higher band
5begin→6start→7+set in
Synonyms
begin
start
Easily confused
set in vs set off
“As winter set in, a small incident set off a larger controversy.”
set in vs begin
“When summer began it was warm, but when the heat set in it became unbearable.”
Related words
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In set …
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