Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

set in motion

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.55 in modern English

Syllables: set in -mo-tion
IPA

13

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To trigger movement or progress; to get going.

Example Sentences

"Considerable excitement was caused on the L.M.S.R. Aberdeen line out of Perth recently when a shunting engine in Perth North goods yard, whose driver and fireman were absent, was accidentally set in motion by a shunter and set off unattended on to the main line."
"She was seen as a gifted pop-country ingenue when, in a now infamous moment, Kanye West interrupted Swift onstage at the 2009 VMAs while she was accepting an award. The incident set in motion a chain of events that would shape the next decade of both artists’ lives."
"In 1825, the first public railway carried passengers across the English countryside, setting in motion not just an engineering revolution, but an industrial one too. Imagine the awe and excitement of those first passengers as they boarded the train, unaware that they were witnessing the dawn of a new era."

Inflected Forms

sets in motion (present, singular) setting in motion (participle, present)

Synonyms

put in motion animate actuate drive force get going impel motivate press propel set in motion

Antonyms

stop

Questions

What does set in motion mean?: To trigger movement or progress; to get going.

How to pronounce set in motion

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