set down

verb

set down; setting down; sets down

transitive verb

1

: to cause to sit down : seat

2

: to place at rest on a surface or on the ground

3

: to suspend (a jockey) from racing

4

: to cause or allow to get off a vehicle : deliver

5

: to land (an airplane) on the ground or water

6

a

: ordain, establish

b

: to put in writing

7

a

: regard, consider

set him down as a liar

b

: attribute

Synonyms of set down

• sit
• seat
• put

Examples of set down in a Sentence

set the toddler down in her seat

set down the names of those in attendance

Recent Examples on the Web

With the win, Fonseca, 19, became the first teenager to ever beat Djokovic in a Grand Slam event and the second player to ever come back from being two sets down to beat the Serbian tennis legend, according to Reuters. —Charlotte Phillipp, PEOPLE, 5 June 2026

But what Jones and company did with the first two seasons was new, recontextualizing and reimagining the narrative Rice set down years ago of angsty vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) telling his story to interviewer Daniel Molloy. —Alex Zalben, IndieWire, 3 June 2026

Her uncle, Lee Kuan Yew, was Singapore’s first prime minister, credited with setting down an approach to economic development that helped make the city-state one of Asia’s richest and most developed societies. —Angelica Ang, Fortune, 1 June 2026

Learner Tien, 20, saved match points and came back from a set down in his second-round match. —Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 31 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for set down

• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown
• godown
• hometown

Kids Definition

set down

verb

1

: to cause to sit down : seat

2

: to place at rest on a surface or on the ground

3

: to land (an airplane) on the ground or water

4

: establish sense 2

the government set down laws

5

: to put in writing