to set out
65
2.4
- phrasal verb
- /sɛt aʊt/
- Histories of countries cover explorers who set out to find new lands.
- set out on a journey
- set out in the morning
- explorers who set out
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Watch on YouTubeBut I, I, you know, you know, when Magellan set out, he didn't know he could get around the world.
- But I, I, you know, you know, when Magellan set out, he didn't know he could get around the world.
- Last year I set out on this journey to create the perfect fitting tops.
- Beach sheets are necessary because you need to know where you're going before you set out on your journey.
- But they got there and I did think a lot about the way those boats must have set out into something like space.
- Chris and I, still in our polyester uniforms, caked with day old batter, setting out for a evening of passion marks.
- Two ships set out shipping people to their debts on the other side of the world.
- And and then we set out and, and I had again one of the best experiences of my life.
Examples
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My own heroes were another group of explorers, who set out with more modest conquests in mind.
Academic text (2003) -
So I set out in search of a new home.
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But we set out and we said we're going to go for it.
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No matter how far away they live, they set out on their journey home.
Academic text (1998) -
And set out for the North, having said farewell, perhaps, never to see us again.
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They set out across the desert this afternoon.
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A team of physicists from the UK set out to track down the origin of this time asymmetry and found quite a surprise.
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♪ In 2019, I set out on an artistic journey.
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And so for years I set out traveling the globe trying to find treatments to compensate for the chemo or radiation.
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Each spring in Alaska, large herds of caribou set out on a long journey.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To move from one place to another, physically or in meaning
∞
1.0
To begin an action, event or process
∞
1.0
Leave a place to do a task, for example to help people
∞
1.0
To go from one place to another, often for work or pleasure
598
2.3
To start doing something or to leave
550
8.4
To leave a place and move away
549
3.2
To leave a place quickly, often to travel somewhere else
396
1.0
To go to another place for work or pleasure
249
2.5
To leave a place to start a trip
170
1.3
To leave a place to start a journey
103
2.5
To leave a place and start a journey by car or bus
53
2.4
To begin a journey toward a place
45
2.6
To travel from one place to another over a long distance
15
2.5
To leave one place to go to another place
8
3.9
To begin a journey to a place
7
2.5
To leave a place to go to another place
6
6.2
To go somewhere or do something even when it is risky
Antonyms
How Purposeful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'set' (to put/place) combined with the particle 'out' (outward, distributed) yields a clear compositional sense of placing or laying items outward—i.e., arranging or laying out objects; this is a regular motion/placement + particle pattern that B1 learners can readily infer. The extension to organizing ideas or information is a systematic metaphorical transfer from physical layout (common cross-linguistically), so the core meaning remains predictable from the parts.
Etymology
The phrasal verb set out comes from a simple travel image: you set yourself out from home and step onto the road. So, set out means 'to begin a journey'.