Meanings
- idiomaticPossessing sufficient resources, especially financial, to last a lifetime.
It wasn't that long ago when getting a bank job after school meant you were set for life.
2008 December 18, Gina Davidson, “HBOS jolly not in festive spirit”, in Scotsman, UK, retrieved 20 Dec 20082 more examples
In that case he has to pay her alimony even if there are no children, and if she is one of those smart ones, interested in nothing but a good living and independence, she is set for life.
1938 November 11, Westbrook Pegler, “Fair Enough”, in The Evening Independent, St. Petersburg, Florida, retrieved 20 Dec 2008, page A1Before he and my mother were killed together in a holiday airbus crash five years later, they had seen the new companies drive all competing oils off the market and those of us who had been in at the beginning apparently well set for life.
1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 45
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 獲得財務自由 /获得财务自由
- 獲得財務自由 /获得财务自由 (huòdé cáiwù zìyóu)possessing sufficient resources to last a lifetime
Dutch binnen
- binnenpossessing sufficient resources to last a lifetime
Finnish turvassa loppuikänsä
- turvassa loppuikänsäpossessing sufficient resources to last a lifetime
German ausgesorgt haben
- ausgesorgt habenpossessing sufficient resources to last a lifetime
Cite this entry
set for life. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/set%20for%20life
“set for life.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/set%20for%20life. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “set for life,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/set%20for%20life.
Source: set for life on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.