set back
SeparableThe object can go before or after the particle — but a pronoun MUST go in the middle: “clean it up”, never “clean up it”.
How to say it
Stress the particle, not the verb: set BACK. Saying “SET back” is the clearest learner tell — the verb stays light and the particle carries the beat.
Do not release the /t/. Before the consonant of “back” the stop is held and swallowed rather than popped — the same unreleased-stop move as in hot dog. One smooth unit: “set back”.
Verb vs noun
As a noun the stress flips to the front: the verb is set BACK, the noun is SETBACK. Same two words, different beat — “to set BACK” is the action, “a setback” is the thing. Getting this backwards makes the sentence land oddly even when every sound is right.
2 meanings
- 1
To delay progress.
- “The flooding set the project back by two months.”
Similar: delay, hinder
- 2
To cost someone a large amount of money.
informal- “That repair set me back four hundred dollars.”
Similar: cost