Etymologically
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setback

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈsɛtbæk/[1]

Etymology

It is a noun use of the phrasal verb set back,[2][3][4][5] formed from English set + back.[6] The verbal phrase is recorded from the mid-15th century, first in the sense "to withhold".[6] Backset (1721) was used in the same sense.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A check to progress, a reverse or relapse: 1669, in John Flavell's Husbandry Spiritualized.[2][3] Etymonline dates it to the 1670s, Merriam-Webster to 1674, and Dictionary.com to 1665–75.[6][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The first and still the main sense is figurative: a check or reverse in progress.[2][4] From 1864 it was also an architectural term for a plain flat offset in a wall,[2][3] and in North America from 1916 it meant the setting back of a building from the edge of the road, or the distance required by planning rules;[2][6] from 1923 it was also used of the stepped design of skyscrapers, whose upper floors stand further back than the lower ones.[2] The verb set back gained the sense "to cost someone a sum of money" in 1900.[6] In the United States setback is also a name for the card game auction pitch.[4]

Timeline

  • mid-15th century – the verbal phrase set back, to withhold.[6]
  • 1669 – a check to progress, reverse, relapse.[2][3]
  • 1721 – backset in the same sense.[6]
  • 1864 – architecture, a plain flat offset in a wall.[2]
  • 1900 – a setting back, as of the shoulders.[2]
  • 1916 – North America, the recess of a building from the roadway.[2][6]
  • 1923 – North America, a stepped-back storey of a skyscraper.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Something that checks or reverses progress; a reverse or defeat: The injury was a serious setback for the team.[4][2][3]
  2. A relapse in health.[2][3]
  3. The distance by which a building is set back from a street or property line, often as required by law.[4][2]
  4. (architecture) A flat offset in a wall; also, a step in the face of a tall building, where the upper storeys stand back from the lower.[4][2]
  5. A card game, auction pitch.[4]
  • set
  • back
  • backset
  • set-off

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com