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View synonyms for clockwork

clockwork

[ klok-wurk ]

noun

  1. the mechanism of a clock.
  2. any mechanism similar to that of a clock.


clockwork

/ ˈklɒkˌwɜːk /

noun

  1. the mechanism of a clock
  2. any similar mechanism, as in a wind-up toy
  3. like clockwork
    with complete regularity and precision


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Word History and Origins

Origin of clockwork1

First recorded in 1620–30; clock 1 + work

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. like clockwork, with perfect regularity or precision:

    The launching of the spacecraft went off like clockwork.

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Example Sentences

According to this view, the world is like a giant clockwork machine whose parts are governed by set laws of motion.

Soon after, like clockwork, ramp dishes start showing up on local restaurant menus.

From Vox

The adults will be left to decompose on the ground, and newly hatched nymphs will burrow into the soil, their home for the next 17 years until, like clockwork, the cycle begins anew.

From Time

He wrote me letters nearly every day, and I responded like clockwork.

From Vox

Every spring, like clockwork, I find myself sad and wistful as the days grow longer and warmer.

And, like clockwork, they came: throngs of well-dressed art collectors and dealers, socialites, and fashion folk.

I was channeling Jim Morrison and Malcolm McDowell from A Clockwork Orange.

There are set pieces and costumes from 2001: A Space Odyssey, artifacts from A Clockwork Orange, and costumes from The Shining.

As predictable as Muslim bullying has become, the moral confusion of secular liberals appears to be part of the same clockwork.

Freedom is knowing the myriad moving parts of your professional life are operating like clockwork.

Today most of the clockwork motor talking machines are built upon the principles disclosed in the Macdonald Spring Motor patent.

When the stop pin has passed the spring, the connection through the magnets T is broken and the clockwork F stops instantly.

If we can't do that, we shall have to wait till the bally clockwork runs down.

Their swinging stride would delight a soldier's heart, for it is like clockwork in its precision.

My breath was short, and there was clockwork going in my head.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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