setback

plural setbacks

1. An obstacle, delay, disadvantage, or blow (an adverse event which slows down, or prevents progress towards a desired outcome).

   After some initial setbacks, the expedition went safely on its way.

   2 more examples

   DUKAT: I blame no one but myself. I was indiscreet. I compromised myself and have been punished accordingly. If someone under my command had behaved so outrageously, I would do the same thing to him. Besides, I assure you, this is only a temporary setback. Everything I have lost, I will regain. It's only a matter of time.

   1996, “Return to Grace”, in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 4, episode 14 (Science Fiction), →OCLC

   The Constitutional Court has ruled today, November 17th, that Section 1448 of the Thai Civil and Commercial, stating that “a marriage can take place only between a man and a woman”, is constitutional under the Thai constitutional law. This decision could be a major setback for many Thai LGBTQ activist groups’ continued journey of what they call basic human rights to legally allow same-sex marriages in Thailand.

   2021 November 17, Nop Meechukhun, “Thailand’s Constitutional Court rules Section 1448 of heterosexual marriages lawful, LGBTQ rights groups ‘disappointed’”, in The Pattaya News, Bangkok: The Pattaya News Company Limited, retrieved 17 Nov 2021

   Synonyms: rebuff, reversal

2. broadlyAny adverse event, defeat, or impediment of progress.
3. USThe required distance between a structure and a road.
4. architectureA step-like recession in a wall.

   Setbacks were initially used for structural reasons, but now are often mandated by land use codes.

   Synonyms: stepback

5. An offset to the temperature setting of a thermostat to cover a period when more or less heating is required than usual.

   Fuel savings from thermostat setbacks have long been accepted as fact, but little documentation existed to support it.

   1980, Popular Science, volume 217, number 4

6. archaicpossiblyA backset; a countercurrent; an eddy.
7. archaicA backset; a check; a repulse; a relapse.