setback

CIDE DICTIONARY

setback, n. 

•  Offset, n., 4.  [1913 Webster]
•  A backset; a countercurrent; an eddy.  [1913 Webster]
•  A reversal of progress in an endeavor; a reverse; a backset; a check; a repulse; a relapse.  [1913 Webster]

THESAURUS

setback

arrest, arrestation, arrestment, atavism, backset, backsliding, backward deviation, backward motion, backward step, bafflement, balk, betrayed hope, blasted expectation, blighted hope, blockage, blocking, blow, buffet, check, checkmate, clogging, closing up, closure, comedown, confusion, constriction, cramp, cruel disappointment, dash, dashed hope, deceleration, defeat, delay, descent, detainment, detention, disappointment, discomfiture, disillusionment, dissatisfaction, down, drag, ease-off, ease-up, failure, fallen countenance, falling back, fiasco, fixation, fizzle, flagging, foil, foiling, foot-dragging, forlorn hope, frustration, hampering, hindering, hindrance, holdback, holdup, hope deferred, impediment, inhibition, interference, interruption, lag, lapse, let, letdown, letup, minus acceleration, mirage, negativism, nuisance value, obstacle, obstruction, obstructionism, occlusion, opposition, reaction, rebuff, recession, recidivation, recidivism, recrudescence, recurrence, reentry, refluence, reflux, regress, regression, relapse, renewal, repression, repulse, resistance, restraint, restriction, retardation, retardment, retroaction, retrocession, retroflexion, retrogradation, retrogression, retrusion, return, reversal, reverse, reverse of fortune, reversion, rollback, rout, severe check, slack-up, slackening, slowdown, slowing, slowing down, slowup, sore disappointment, squeeze, sternway, stranglehold, stricture, stumbling block, suppression, tantalization, tease, throwback

ROGET THESAURUS

setback

Adversity

N adversity, evil, failure, bad luck, ill luck, evil luck, adverse luck, hard fortune, hard hap, hard luck, hard lot, frowns of fortune, evil dispensation, evil star, evil genius, vicissitudes of life, ups and downs of life, broken fortunes, hard case, hard lines, hard life, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, hell upon earth, slough of despond, trouble, hardship, curse, blight, blast, load, pressure, pressure of the times, iron age, evil day, time out of joint, hard times, bad times, sad times, rainy day, cloud, dark cloud, gathering clouds, ill wind, visitation, infliction, affliction, bitter pill, care, trial, the sport of fortune, mishap, mischance, misadventure, misfortune, disaster, calamity, catastrophe, accident, casualty, cross, reverse, check, contretemps, rub, backset, comedown, setback, losing game, falling, fall, downfall, ruination, ruinousness, undoing, extremity, ruin, unfortunate, unblest, unhappy, unlucky, improsperous, unprosperous, hoodooed, luckless, hapless, out of luck, in trouble, in a bad way, in an evil plight, under a cloud, clouded, ill off, badly off, in adverse circumstances, poor, behindhand, down in the world, decayed, undone, on the road to ruin, on its last legs, on the wane, in one's utmost need, planet-struck, devoted, born under an evil star, born with a wooden ladle in one's mouth, ill-fated, ill-starred, ill-omened, adverse, untoward, disastrous, calamitous, ruinous, dire, deplorable.