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setup

setup

87 6.8
An act of tricking someone so they are blamed for a crime they did not commit
  • noun
  • /ˈsɛtʌp/
translation icon : montaje
  • Now that he thought about it, the setup was probably designed to intimidate him.

Wow, no one believes this is a setup at all.

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Examples

  • So this whole thing was a setup just to get information out of me?

  • This whole thing's a setup, a scam, a frame job.

  • This was all one big setup, huh?

  • Of course, I knew what this setup was all about.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Wow, no one believes this is a setup at all.

  • He said the whole trial was a setup.

  • Tango and Cash insist... ... they are victims of a setup by criminal figures... ...aimed at taking the two cops out of action.

  • Romney knows what a setup this is and how it favors the GOP.

    Blog text (15)
  • Inside another, troops found explosives rigged to a transceiver, a setup presumably designed to implicate U.S. forces in the demolition of the mosque.

    Academic text (2007)
  • The police discovered that the evidence against him was fabricated as part of a setup to frame him for a crime he didn't commit.

Synonyms

frame-up
vssetup
  • Informal
3 8.7

An act of falsely accusing someone by making fake evidence against them

is about arranging false proof to cause formal accusation or conviction
put-up job
vssetup
  • Informal
1 8.5

A secret plan to trick people by making something seem accidental

focuses on creating evidence to have someone charged or convicted
entrapment
vssetup
1 6.4

The act of trapping people or animals with tricks and traps

relies on planting false proof to ensure accusation or conviction

Antonyms

41 7.1

An official court decision that a person is not guilty of a crime

exoneration
  • Formal
10 7.9

An official clearing of a person from blame after being accused

How Deceptive

conspiracy
670 5.5
put-up job
  • Informal
1 8.5
setup
87 6.8
fraud
577 4.0
scam
  • NSFW
294 3.0
hoax
166 4.1
to trick
326 3.5

Surface Forms

setup singular
setups plural

Morphology

setup = set + up (semi-transparent) = set + up

The noun derives from the phrasal verb 'set up' meaning to arrange or entrap, but the criminal sense 'to frame someone' is a specific idiomatic extension that is not fully predictable from basic meanings.

Etymology

Setup The word comes from the phrase set up, where set means 'to put' and up shows action. So to 'set someone up' was to put them in a false place or a 'trap', which is why a setup can mean a trick to make someone look guilty.