set in train

present singular third person sets in train · participle present setting in train

1. To start a process.

   Another social dynamic set in train by the exercise of private property rights is the commercialisation of the press.

   2018, James Furner, Marx on Capitalism: The Interaction-Recognition-Antinomy Thesis, page 279

   2 more examples

   Elaborate preparations for the war of October, 1973, were then set in train, with full Soviet participation, behind a brilliantly executed program of deception and surprise.

   1978, Clark M. Clifford, Eugene Victor Rostow, Barbara Wertheim Tuchman, The Palestine Question in American History, page 97

   He set in train some changes to prepare the villa for the arrival of the two women, and left with Emrys for Paris to hunt down master chef, René, who had once worked for his father.

   2016, Mary S. Lovell, The Riviera Set

   Synonyms: put in train