phrasal verb / idiom · neutral
set the ball rolling
UK/ˌsɛt ðə ˈbɔːl ˈrəʊlɪŋ/US/ˌsɛt ðə ˈbɔːl ˈroʊlɪŋ/set·the·ball·ROLL·ing
to start an activity or process
Examples
“To improve attendance, the school decided to set the ball rolling with a major campaign.”
“We set the ball rolling on the project by holding a planning meeting.”
“If you want to change something, you have to set the ball rolling yourself.”
Band 8 sentence
“To tackle the city's traffic problem, the council needs to set the ball rolling with concrete policy changes rather than vague promises.”
Collocations
- set the ball rolling on/with
- set the ball rolling for
Word family
Common mistakes
make the ball rolling→set the ball rolling
set ball rolling→set the ball rolling
Say it for a higher band
5start→6begin→7+set the ball rolling
Synonyms
start
kick off
Easily confused
start
“She started the project last month.”
Related words
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