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"Setting" can be used to talk about the end of the day when the sun goes down, as in "In Ramadan, fasters must abstain from eating and drinking from the break of dawn until the setting of the sun." Now can we use it metaphorically to mean the end of something else (such as an agreement or a friendship, you know, something literary maybe)? And if not, what are some of the alternatives?

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    Not setting on its own, but sunset could be used figuratively.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented May 26, 2020 at 8:12
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    Only celestial bodies 'set' in the sense of appearing to vanish below the horizon.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented May 26, 2020 at 9:16

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You could say something like "the sun has set on their friendship" as a slightly whimsical and poetic metaphor, once the situation is in the past. The use of the noun "setting" implies a prediction of something which will occur, and does not really work in a metaphorical sense.

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Following up on @Kate Bunting's comment, sunset is often used in government to describe laws that are intended to stay in effect for a certain period of time and then expire. For example: "The legislature imposed a surcharge on the corporate tax in year x that was scheduled to sunset in year y."

When used in this context, sunset can be used as a noun, an adjective, a transitive verb, or an intransitive verb.

  • Noun. "Eliminates the sunset of the Municipal Conveyance Tax rate increases" - The Connecticut Office of Fiscal Analysis summary of Senate Bill 1239, An Act Concerning the Budget for the Biennium Ending June 30, 2013."
  • Adjective. "There was no sunset provision striking it from the books after five years..." - CTMirror (a daily public policy online publication covering Connecticut state government).
  • Transitive verb. "Public Act 19-117, signed by Gov. Lamont on June 26, 2019, sunsets the $250 biennial Connecticut Business Entity Tax (BET)." - Connecticut Department of Revenue Services
  • Intransitive verb. "Switajewski pointed out the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions is temporary, (scheduled to sunset after Dec. 31, 2025), but that Congress could decide to extend it." - Connecticut Business and Industry Association

It's important to note that in this context, set can't be used alone, but must be combined with sun.

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