student asking question

What does "you set the term" mean? Does it mean "you caused or started something?" and is this expression general?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

When someone "sets the terms," it means that he or she is able to decide on the conditions (terms) for a situation, or to make a situation favorable to them. In this context, Vision says "you set the terms, you can change them" to mean that the situation is favorable to Ultron, and that he has the power to change the terms (conditions) for his own benefit. Ex: Company A was more powerful, so they set the terms for the contract. Ex: If you can set the terms, then you can anticipate a good result.

Complete the expression with a quiz!