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settle

verb

Simple meaning

To conclude or resolve.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sehtuhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsɛtəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. To conclude or resolve (something)

  2. transitive

    To conclude, to cause (a dispute) to finish.

  3. transitive

    To determine (something which was exposed to doubt or question); to resolve conclusively; to set or fix (a time, an order of succession, etc).

  4. transitive

    In particular, to terminate (a lawsuit), usually out of court, by agreement of all parties.

  5. transitive

    To close, liquidate or balance (an account) by payment, sometimes of less than is owed or due.

  6. intransitive

    To adjust differences or accounts; to come to an agreement on matters in dispute.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

More ways to use settle

  • “The immigrants settled in the Midwest.”verb
  • “He settled the farm 200 years ago.”verb
  • “We settled for a lower price.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

finally settle

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • settledadjectiveInflected form

    Established or decided beyond dispute or doubt.

  • settlingnounInflected form

    A gradual sinking to a lower level.

  • settlernounInflected form

    A person who settles in a new colony or moves into new country.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • settlementnounDerived noun · specialist

    A body of people who settle far from home but maintain ties with their homeland.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • settle onverbCompound term

    Become fixed (on).

  • settle downverbCompound term

    Settle into a position, usually on a surface or ground.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to conclude or resolve (something)

decidemake up

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.