dead set on
9
4.8
- idiom
- Informal
:
decidido a
- She is dead set on completing the marathon next month.
- dead set on making
- dead set on getting
But has there been anything that you were like really dead set on and now, you know, your, your ideas have shifted?
- But has there been anything that you were like really dead set on and now, you know, your, your ideas have shifted?
- And so she's basically dead set on not going until her sister meets this sailor boy.
- Today you've learned of Gordon, an evil wizard dead set on collecting the hexagons and enslaving the world to his will.
- So often I think we are, we're, we're dead set on the here and now.
- I mean the big business, the entire BLOB that that is in dead set on managing this discourse.
Examples
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Tony is dead set on reviving the old mining method.
-
Yet you are dead set on changing the definition of marriage.
Blog text (14) -
Why is he so dead set on not working?
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And I'm dead set on living.
-
Colton is dead set on being a baseball player.
Blog text (8) -
By the time I was in high school, I was dead set on listening to what everybody thought I should be doing with my life and just kinda... doing the opposite.
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Republicans will now be dead set on doing a U-turn.
Blog text (23) -
Life gets in the way of plans—I was dead set on having one, and then we had twins.
Blog text (27) -
As we previously reported, Selena had been dead set on cutting JB out of her life, even blocking him on her cellphone.
Blog text (24) -
International efforts can disrupt and delay the proliferation of nuclear weapons, but it is difficult to deny the ambitions of leaders dead set on acquiring them.
Academic text (2010)
Synonyms
399
2.5
Wanting strongly to do something and not giving up
79
4.0
Shows loyalty and works hard for a cause or group
55
4.6
Determined to do something even if it is difficult or dangerous
31
4.4
Very determined to do something no matter the difficulty
18
6.5
Firmly decided to do something or strongly against doing it
Firm in deciding to do something and not willing to change your mind
Antonyms
How Determined
245
4.8
- Informal
9
4.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is largely built from predictable parts: 'set on' can mean being fixed or resolved about something, and 'dead' here functions as an intensifier meaning 'completely' or 'firmly'. However, using 'dead' as an intensifier in this collocation is somewhat colloquial and the exact phrasing 'dead set on' is a conventionalized combination, so a learner may need some exposure to confirm the idiomatic usage.
Etymology
Dead set on may come from the image of something fixed so firmly it cannot move: dead here means 'completely' and set means 'fixed in place'. That's why if someone is dead set on something, they are very firm or 'determined' to do it.