it's set in stone

Grammar usage guide and real-world examples

It's easy to think that once a word finds its way into the dictionary it's set in stone, but that's of course not the case.

The day you're born, God knows your day, it's set in stone.

Other playwrights finish a play and think it's set in stone".

Yet perversely, writers treat each paragraph as if it's set in stone.

We insist on asking children what they want to do with their lives when most of the time it's set in stone when they pull on their first school uniform.

"Once they tried to throw us off the Old Course so we wrote to complain saying we were locals and now it's set in stone that we play each year".

"When I was asked about it I certainly don't think it was set in stone," said Vaughan.

Rhodes officials took plenty of heat for not rescheduling the interview, even though the date is known well in advance and applicants are informed it is set in stone.

Dweck explains that some students believe ability is malleable and can be improved (a growth mindset), while others think it is set in stone, probably decided at birth (a fixed mindset).

And as Mr. Asher regaled a delighted audience with stories of his sister Jane Asher's romance with Mr. McCartney (who moved into the Asher house), and of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's meeting for the first time at the Indica Gallery, a hip London hangout he founded with John Dunbar and Barry Miles, he conjured history in the making, before it was set in stone.

It is set in stone that Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a facultative intracellular bacterial parasite.