set in train

set in train (third-person singular simple present sets in train, present participle setting in train, simple past and past participle set in train)

1. To start a process.

   Synonym: put in train

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

     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.

   • 2016, Mary S. Lovell, The Riviera Set:

     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.

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

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

• set in motion