What does 'set aside time' mean in a work context?

'Set aside time' means to reserve or save a specific period for a particular task or meeting. When a colleague says 'let's set aside time,' they want to schedule focused time for something important.

Is 'set aside' formal or informal?

'Set aside' is neutral — it works in both casual Slack messages and formal emails. It's appropriate for standups, sprint planning, and conversations with managers or clients.

What's the difference between 'set aside' and 'block off'?

'Set aside' is more general and can apply to time, money, or resources. 'Block off' specifically refers to calendar time and is slightly more casual.

Can I use 'set aside' for things other than time?

Yes. Teams often 'set aside budget' for tools, 'set aside story points' for specific work, or 'set aside resources' for projects. Time is most common, but it's flexible.

How do I pronounce 'set aside' correctly?

Pronounce it as /sɛt əˈsaɪd/. The stress is on 'side.' In fast speech, it often sounds like 'set-uh-SIDE.'

What's another way to say 'set aside time'?

You can say 'reserve time,' 'block off time,' 'allocate time,' or 'carve out time.' 'Block off' is casual; 'allocate' is more formal.

What Does "Set Aside" Mean at Work?

Commonness
Versatility
Formality	CasualFormalNeutral
Spoken ↔ Written	SpokenWrittenBoth
Directness ↔ Diplomatic	DirectDiplomaticDiplomatic
Region

Say it like this

✓Let's set aside some time this week to discuss the upcoming project.

✓We should set aside a few story points for bug fixes.

✓Can we set aside 30 minutes tomorrow to go through the code?

✓I've set aside Friday afternoon for deep work.

✓The team set aside budget for new tooling.

Real examples

Standup

"I'm going to set aside the afternoon to focus on that performance issue."

Slack message

"Hey, can we set aside 15 minutes today to sync on the API changes?"

GitHub PR

"I've set aside some follow-up tasks for the next sprint in the comments."

Jira ticket

"We've set aside 3 story points for documentation updates."

Retrospective

"Should we set aside more time for code reviews next sprint?"

Sprint planning

"Let's set aside a buffer for any urgent production issues."

Pair programming

"I've set aside the next hour so we can work through this together."

Don't say this

✕I will set aside you some time.

✓I will set aside some time for you.— Set aside takes an object (time, money), not a person. Use 'for you' after the object.

✕Let's set apart time for the meeting.

✓Let's set aside time for the meeting.— 'Set apart' means to make something different or special. 'Set aside' means to reserve.

✕I set aside time yesterday for tomorrow.

✓I set aside time for tomorrow.— Keep the sentence simple. The timing is about when you'll use it, not when you decided.

Other forms

base form

set aside

"We need to set aside time for testing."

past tense

set aside

"I set aside two hours yesterday."

present continuous

setting aside

"We're setting aside budget for Q4."

past participle

set aside

"Time has been set aside for the demo."

gerund

setting aside

"Setting aside time for learning is important."

Often used with

set aside timeThe most common usage — reserving hours or minutes for something.

set aside budgetReserving money for a project or tool.

set aside resourcesReserving people, compute, or other assets.

set aside story pointsReserving capacity in a sprint for specific work.

set aside differencesIgnoring disagreements to focus on work (less common in tech).

Similar words

reserveMore formal. Good for emails: 'I've reserved time for us.'

allocateMore technical. Used for budgets and resources.

block offCasual. Often used for calendar blocking.

carve outSlightly more effort implied. 'Carve out time' suggests it was hard to find.

dedicateSuggests full commitment. 'Dedicate a day to refactoring.'

Opposites

use upspendconsumeoverlookignore

Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Choose the most natural sentence

1. You want to schedule a meeting with your team lead.

Let's set aside some time to discuss this.Let's set apart some time to discuss this.Let's put aside you some time.Let's set aside you time.

Fill in the blank

2. We should _____ a few hours next week for technical debt.

Spot the mistake

3. I will set aside you some time tomorrow to review the PR.

set aside you some timetomorrow to reviewthe PR

Rewrite this sentence using 'set aside'

4. We need to reserve two story points for bug fixes.

More words

block off allocate carve out buffer capacity bandwidth time-box reserve

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "set aside" in a standup this week?

Want more structured practice like this? Our English for Programmers course covers real workplace English in depth.

Your badges

XLinkedIn

← Back to home