setting in
Starting to stay
Setting in describes something unpleasant beginning to take hold and establish itself.
The phrase almost always applies to negative conditions—weather, illness, decay, or difficult circumstances: Winter is setting in, Infection had set in by the time he reached the hospital, Panic was setting in among the crowd.
The "in" suggests the condition is becoming embedded or entrenched.
- onsetStarting point of something
- taking holdBecoming firmly established
- beginningInitial stage of something
- sinking inGradually being understood
- emergenceComing into existence
creeping in · embedding · acceptance · reality check · commencement · arrival · encroaching · hardening · internalization · acclimatization · rooting · installing · habituation · dawn · fixing · entrenchment · rigor mortis · unfolding
- happeningshappenings, happening, event, occurrence, events
setting infading away
Gradual disappearance from perception
wearing off · passing · lifting · abating · receding
set, settle, setting, settled, settling, unsettled, unsettling, set in, settings