The phrase "a year of setbacks" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to describe a year characterized by difficulties or challenges that hinder progress or success.
Example: "Despite the challenges, we learned valuable lessons during what we now refer to as a year of setbacks."
Alternatives: "a year of challenges" or "a year of difficulties."
The government of Prime Minister Tony Blair has had a year of setbacks and stumbles that usually allows an opposition party to dream of recapturing 10 Downing Street.
The surprise decision reflected growing pressure on the longest-serving head of government in the European Union after a year of setbacks.
"You can't have negotiations without leveling the playing field, and why would Assad negotiate if he is gaining ground?" Faisal added, pointing to more than a year of setbacks for the rebels on the battleground.
A particular time is not so important to her as the chance for release from a year of setback and disappointment.
After a year of disheartening setbacks, many activists and change-makers may feel that the critical goal of transforming capitalism is slipping out of reach.
Pro-democracy activists fear the law will be used to undermine freedom of speech and protest, after a punishing year of setbacks including the jailing of prominent members of the democracy movement for their roles in anti-government protests.
After nearly a year of training and all the setbacks, it ended in an anticlimactic 15 seconds.
Exxon is doing nothing less than an overhaul of the portfolio, as might be expected after a few years of setbacks.
McCullough, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "John Adams," evokes the turbulence of 18th-century colonial life in this intimate account of the American Revolution and the year of setbacks for the rebels that finally ended with George Washington's stunning victory at Trenton.
This was another year of setbacks (see: Texas), and with major Republican victories in the November elections, we can expect to see more restrictive measures passed in 2015.
The setback caps a year of struggle for Quadrangle, after Steven Rattner — the founder who is Mr. Bloomberg's friend — departed last year to run the Obama administration's automobile task force.
