Library / English Dictionary |
SET UP
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Make ready or suitable or equip in advance for a particular purpose or for some use, event, etc
Example:
I was fixing to leave town after I paid the hotel bill
Synonyms:
fix; gear up; prepare; ready; set; set up
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "set up" is one way to...):
alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "set up"):
brace; poise (prepare (oneself) for something unpleasant or difficult)
crop; cultivate; work (prepare for crops)
prime (insert a primer into (a gun, mine, or charge) preparatory to detonation or firing)
summerise; summerize (prepare for summer)
winterise; winterize (prepare for winter)
lay out; set; set up (get ready for a particular purpose or event)
mount (fix onto a backing, setting, or support)
fix (kill, preserve, and harden (tissue) in order to prepare for microscopic study)
precondition (put into the required condition beforehand)
cram (prepare (students) hastily for an impending exam)
provide (take measures in preparation for)
socialise; socialize (prepare for social life)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE
Sense 2
Meaning:
Get ready for a particular purpose or event
Example:
lay out the tools for the surgery
Synonyms:
lay out; set; set up
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "set up" is one way to...):
fix; gear up; prepare; ready; set; set up (make ready or suitable or equip in advance for a particular purpose or for some use, event, etc)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 3
Meaning:
Example:
rig a ship
Synonyms:
rig; set; set up
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "set up" is one way to...):
equip; fit; fit out; outfit (provide with (something) usually for a specific purpose)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 4
Meaning:
Arrange thoughts, ideas, temporal events
Example:
I put these memories with those of bygone times
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting
Hypernyms (to "set up" is one way to...):
organise; organize (cause to be structured or ordered or operating according to some principle or idea)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "set up"):
contemporise; contemporize; synchronise; synchronize (arrange or represent events so that they co-occur)
phrase (divide, combine, or mark into phrases)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 5
Meaning:
Put into a proper or systematic order
Example:
arrange the books on the shelves in chronological order
Synonyms:
arrange; set up
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "set up" is one way to...):
lay; place; pose; position; put; set (put into a certain place or abstract location)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "set up"):
concord (arrange the words of a text so as to create a concordance)
cascade (arrange (open windows) on a computer desktop so that they overlap each other, with the title bars visible)
settle (arrange or fix in the desired order)
pyramid (arrange or build up as if on the base of a pyramid)
corral (arrange wagons so that they form a corral)
catenate; catenulate (arrange in a series of rings or chains, as for spores)
decorate; dress (provide with decoration)
array; lay out; range; set out (lay out orderly or logically in a line or as if in a line)
bundle; compact; pack; wad (compress into a wad)
heap; pile; stack (arrange in stacks)
distribute; stagger (to arrange in a systematic order)
drape (arrange in a particular way)
drape (place casually)
set (fix in a border)
gradate (arrange according to grades)
line up (form a line)
regularise; regularize (make regular or more regular)
order (place in a certain order)
order (bring order to or into)
straighten (make straight or straighter)
rearrange (put into a new order or arrangement)
serialise; serialize (arrange serially)
alphabetise; alphabetize (arrange in alphabetical order)
coordinate; organise; organize (bring order and organization to)
stratify (form layers or strata)
draw; string; thread (thread on or as if on a string)
marshal (arrange in logical order)
string (stretch out or arrange like a string)
spread out; string out (set out or stretch in a line, succession, or series)
plume; preen (clean with one's bill)
stack (arrange the order of so as to increase one's winning chances)
chain (connect or arrange into a chain by linking)
geminate; pair (arrange in pairs)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sentence examples:
They set up the bags on the table
The men set up the bookshelves
Sense 6
Meaning:
Example:
pitch a tent
Synonyms:
pitch; set up
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "set up" is one way to...):
erect; rear (cause to rise up)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "set up"):
camp; camp down (establish or set up a camp)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 7
Meaning:
Example:
We put in a new sink
Synonyms:
instal; install; put in; set up
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "set up" is one way to...):
lay; place; pose; position; put; set (put into a certain place or abstract location)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "set up"):
post; put up (place so as to be noticed)
reinstall (install again)
retrofit (fit in or on an existing structure, such as an older house)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP
Sentence example:
They want to set up the doors
Sense 8
Meaning:
Example:
Her manager had set her up at the Ritz
Synonyms:
establish; instal; install; set up
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Sense 9
Meaning:
Example:
The scientists set up a shock wave
Synonyms:
effect; effectuate; set up
Classified under:
Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing
Hypernyms (to "set up" is one way to...):
cause; do; make (give rise to; cause to happen or occur, not always intentionally)
Cause:
come about; fall out; go on; hap; happen; occur; pass; pass off; take place (come to pass)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "set up"):
accomplish; action; carry out; carry through; execute; fulfil; fulfill (put in effect)
draw; get (earn or achieve a base by being walked by the pitcher)
precipitate (bring about abruptly)
hasten; induce; rush; stimulate (cause to occur rapidly)
serve (contribute or conduce to)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sense 10
Meaning:
Create by putting components or members together
Example:
They set up a committee
Synonyms:
assemble; piece; put together; set up; tack; tack together
Classified under:
Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing
Hypernyms (to "set up" is one way to...):
join (cause to become joined or linked)
create; make (make or cause to be or to become)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "set up"):
comfit; confect; confection (make into a confection)
confuse; jumble; mix up (assemble without order or sense)
reassemble (assemble once again, after taking something apart)
configure (set up for a particular purpose)
compound (create by mixing or combining)
rig up (erect or construct, especially as a temporary measure)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Sense 11
Meaning:
Example:
Raise a barn
Synonyms:
erect; put up; raise; rear; set up
Classified under:
Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing
Hypernyms (to "set up" is one way to...):
build; construct; make (make by combining materials and parts)
Domain category:
building; construction (the act of constructing something)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 12
Meaning:
Begin, or enable someone else to begin, a venture by providing the means, logistics, etc.
Example:
set up an election
Classified under:
Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing
Hypernyms (to "set up" is one way to...):
devise; get up; machinate; organise; organize; prepare (arrange by systematic planning and united effort)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sense 13
Meaning:
Example:
She set up a literacy program
Synonyms:
establish; found; launch; set up
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "set up" is one way to...):
open; open up (start to operate or function or cause to start operating or functioning)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 14
Meaning:
Arrange the outcome of by means of deceit
Example:
rig an election
Synonyms:
rig; set up
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "set up" is one way to...):
cheat; chisel (engage in deceitful behavior; practice trickery or fraud)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 15
Meaning:
Take or catch as if in a snare or trap
Example:
The innocent man was framed by the police
Synonyms:
ensnare; entrap; frame; set up
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "set up" is one way to...):
cozen; deceive; delude; lead on (be false to; be dishonest with)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody
Sentence example:
They want to set up the prisoners
Derivation:
setup (an act that incriminates someone on a false charge)
Context examples:
A program set up to establish cooperative agreements for Clinical Trials of Cancer Therapy with Biological Response Modifiers (CATBRMs) and to develop novel approaches for such therapy.
(Biological Response Modifiers Program, NCI Thesaurus)
I set up my sail, the wind being fair, with a design to reach the nearest of those islands, which I made a shift to do, in about three hours.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
An initiative set up to find signs of intelligent life in the universe has detected a series of mysterious radio signals from a dwarf galaxy 3 billion light-years away.
(Mysterious Radio Signals Detected from Deep Space, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
An exoplanet may seem like the perfect spot to set up housekeeping, but before you go there, take a closer look at its star.
(Even 'Goldilocks' exoplanets need a well-behaved star, National Science Foundation )
Messner set up his light sheet-iron stove and starred a fire.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
But he set up no monopoly of the general attention, or the conversation.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Presently Jo said cheerfully, for she didn't want the coming home to be a sad one, I can't make it true that you children are really married and going to set up housekeeping.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
We were just as happy as the day was long when we set up house together, and in all Liverpool there was no better woman than my Mary.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I found that they had set up housekeeping together at this place on the line that she had to pass for the station.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Not I. The utmost I hope is, to save money enough out of my earnings to set up a school some day in a little house rented by myself.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)