Meaning & use
settle
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To end an argument or reach a final decision about something.
Grammar: With an object: settle the dispute. Without one, usually with on: settle on a date.
Patterns
- settle something
- settle on something
- settle for something
The two sides settled the dispute out of court.
We finally settled on a date for the party.
He settled for a smaller salary.
verbintransitive
To make a home in a place and live there permanently.
Grammar: No object; often with in or down: they settled in Ohio.
Patterns
- settle in somewhere
- settle down
Her family settled in Canada in 1990.
After years of travel, he wanted to settle down.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To become calm, comfortable, or still, or to make someone or something so.
Grammar: Both uses: the baby settled; the tea settled his stomach.
Patterns
- settle down
- settle into something
- settle someone
The children settled quickly after the story.
Dust settled on the old books.
A walk helped settle my nerves.
verbtransitive
To pay money that is owed.
Grammar: Takes a bill or debt as object: settle the account.
Patterns
- settle a bill
- settle up
Please settle the bill before you leave.
He settled his debts within a year.
Word forms
| third person singular | settles |
|---|---|
| past tense | settled |
| past participle | settled |
| -ing form | settling |
Common combinations
- settle a dispute
- The mayor helped settle a dispute between neighbors.
- settle down
- Please settle down and open your books.
- settle for
- I will not settle for second best.
- settle in
- It took her a month to settle in at her new school.
- settle a bill
- He asked the waiter to settle the bill.
Synonyms and how they differ
- resolve
- Resolve is more formal and used for problems and conflicts, not for moving home or paying bills.
- calm
- Calm refers only to becoming peaceful, while settle can also mean to sink or to stay in one place.
- pay
- Pay is general, while settle suggests finishing a debt or bill completely.
- colonize
- Colonize means to take control of a territory, but settle is neutral and can describe ordinary families moving.
Opposites
Word family
- settlement noun
- an agreement, a payment, or a small community
- settler noun
- a person who makes a home in a new land
- unsettled adjective
- uneasy or not decided
- settled adjective
- stable and established
Commonly confused: settle or sit?
settle vs sit
Sit means to rest on a seat. Settle means to become fixed, calm, or established.
Practice
Which choice fits? After arguing for an hour, the friends ____ on a restaurant.
Choose one answer.
Settle on means to decide on something after consideration. The other options do not combine with on in this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “settle”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.