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Synonyms

set in motion

Idioms  

  1. Start something moving, give impetus to something, as in A press conference set the new project in motion. It is also put as set the wheels in motion, as in Let's set the wheels in motion for the new library wing. This idiom dates from about 1800. It was preceded by put in motion, which dates from the mid-1600s.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Their grief and fury set in motion the countervailing force of justice that, no matter how belated, cannot be denied.

From Los Angeles Times

Over the course of 18 months, Mr. Landsbergis’s courage and steadfastness to settle for nothing short of full independence set in motion something neither President George H.W.

From The Wall Street Journal

On 4 December, 2024, Yoon announced to the nation that he was declaring martial law – plunging South Korea into chaos and setting in motion a series of events that would precipitate his downfall.

From BBC

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Certain things have been set in motion. Chip and Alex have to go to the fifteenth century.”

From Literature

On Aug. 14, 1980, Mr. Walesa, then 36, set in motion a series of events that brought about the end of the Soviet empire.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.