Clockwork
noun
The inner workings of a mechanical device like a clock.
He took apart his toy car to see the clockwork inside.
Often appears as...
- clockwork mechanism
- clockwork toy
adjective
Something happening with the regularity and predictability of a machine.
The timing of the band's performance was like clockwork.
Often appears as...
- runs like clockwork
- works like clockwork
adjective
Involving or relating to mechanical devices powered by wound springs.
He built a clockwork model of the solar system for his science project.
Often appears as...
- clockwork device
- clockwork model
Usage tips
Technical
noun
The inner workings of a mechanical device like a clock.
He took apart his toy car to see the clockwork inside.
Often appears as...
- clockwork mechanism
- clockwork toy
adjective
Something happening with the regularity and predictability of a machine.
The timing of the band's performance was like clockwork.
Often appears as...
- runs like clockwork
- works like clockwork
adjective
Involving or relating to mechanical devices powered by wound springs.
He built a clockwork model of the solar system for his science project.
Often appears as...
- clockwork device
- clockwork model
Usage tips
Technical
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Mechanical Inner Workings
Refers to the complex parts inside machines, not just clocks.
The clockwork of antique watches is intricate and delicate.
Pro Tip 2/3Metaphorical Use
Can describe any system working together smoothly, not only mechanics.
Their team worked like clockwork to finish the project on time.
Pro Tip 3/3Curiosity Context
Often used when someone is curious about how things work.
He always had a fascination with the clockwork of old radios.
Pro Tip 1/3Mechanical Inner Workings
Refers to the complex parts inside machines, not just clocks.
The clockwork of antique watches is intricate and delicate.
Pro Tip 2/3Metaphorical Use
Can describe any system working together smoothly, not only mechanics.
Their team worked like clockwork to finish the project on time.
Pro Tip 3/3Curiosity Context
Often used when someone is curious about how things work.
He always had a fascination with the clockwork of old radios.
Pro Tip 1/3Mechanical Inner Workings
Refers to the complex parts inside machines, not just clocks.
The clockwork of antique watches is intricate and delicate.
Pro Tip 2/3Metaphorical Use
Can describe any system working together smoothly, not only mechanics.
Their team worked like clockwork to finish the project on time.
Pro Tip 3/3Curiosity Context
Often used when someone is curious about how things work.
He always had a fascination with the clockwork of old radios.
Compare with
automateconsistencyefficiencymechanismorderlinessperfectionprecisionregular
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Video examples
The game layer on top of...
some people during the day they will return a like clockwork at different times so if they wanted the world to end if they wanted productivity to stop they could make this a 30 minute cycle and no one could do anything else right but that's a little scary but but this can also be used for good this is a local
Video examples
Underwater Cave Diving:...
probably, that time was the most fun I'd ever had in my life. Everything was going like clockwork we'd been working together for two or three months we traded jokes, we didn't even have to finish each other's sentences. I mean, we were quite close. And I made it pretty far on the first dive
Video examples
Surviving a Box...
along Waikiki, these animals would show up like clockwork, exactly on the lunar calendar, purposefully triggered in the predawn hours to spawn. Her research not only helps prevent jellyfish stings but has led to the creation of a topical treatment currently
Video examples
Deborah Gordon: The...
produces a factory that works with the precision and efficiency of clockwork. In fact, if you watch ants at all, you end up trying to help them because they never seem to be doing anything exactly the way that you think that they ought to be doing it.
Video examples
Bug Out Vacation PIPE...
anything that does happen that we do it like clockwork and it gets done fast go rich oh nice our motto is to travel fast and travel light as quickly as we can and get away from a populated area said it let's go hey rich guide me in trade
Video examples
Seth Priebatsch:...
They will return, like clockwork, at different times. So if they wanted the world to end, if they wanted productivity to stop, they could make it a 30-minute cycle, and no one could do anything else, right? That's a little scary.
Video examples
Filming Galapagos Giant...
longevity tell you what though i prefer to live life in the fast lane now these hatchlings have emerged we can't keep up with them they're they're everywhere they're like tiny little clockwork toys that are wound up to the
Video examples
Tarana Burke: Me Too is...
I'm faced with my own hard truth. I'm numb. And I'm not surprised. I've traveled all across the world giving talks, and like clockwork, after every event,
Video examples
How I made friends with...
well, I read an email from someone who'd read it, but -- You have to understand that we don't live in Newton's clockwork universe anymore.
Video examples
Bringing science to life...
that clockwork do universe this way in other words change doesn't happen at all everyone's holding fast to their fixed
Video examples
The game layer on top of...
some people during the day they will return a like clockwork at different times so if they wanted the world to end if they wanted productivity to stop they could make this a 30 minute cycle and no one could do anything else right but that's a little scary but but this can also be used for good this is a local
Video examples
Underwater Cave Diving:...
probably, that time was the most fun I'd ever had in my life. Everything was going like clockwork we'd been working together for two or three months we traded jokes, we didn't even have to finish each other's sentences. I mean, we were quite close. And I made it pretty far on the first dive
Video examples
Surviving a Box...
along Waikiki, these animals would show up like clockwork, exactly on the lunar calendar, purposefully triggered in the predawn hours to spawn. Her research not only helps prevent jellyfish stings but has led to the creation of a topical treatment currently
Video examples
Deborah Gordon: The...
produces a factory that works with the precision and efficiency of clockwork. In fact, if you watch ants at all, you end up trying to help them because they never seem to be doing anything exactly the way that you think that they ought to be doing it.
Video examples
Bug Out Vacation PIPE...
anything that does happen that we do it like clockwork and it gets done fast go rich oh nice our motto is to travel fast and travel light as quickly as we can and get away from a populated area said it let's go hey rich guide me in trade
Video examples
Seth Priebatsch:...
They will return, like clockwork, at different times. So if they wanted the world to end, if they wanted productivity to stop, they could make it a 30-minute cycle, and no one could do anything else, right? That's a little scary.
Video examples
Filming Galapagos Giant...
longevity tell you what though i prefer to live life in the fast lane now these hatchlings have emerged we can't keep up with them they're they're everywhere they're like tiny little clockwork toys that are wound up to the
Video examples
Tarana Burke: Me Too is...
I'm faced with my own hard truth. I'm numb. And I'm not surprised. I've traveled all across the world giving talks, and like clockwork, after every event,
Video examples
How I made friends with...
well, I read an email from someone who'd read it, but -- You have to understand that we don't live in Newton's clockwork universe anymore.
Video examples
Bringing science to life...
that clockwork do universe this way in other words change doesn't happen at all everyone's holding fast to their fixed
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Suze Orman
American Author
In January we start saving money, getting out of credit card debt, funding our retirement accounts, and we're doing wonderful. Then, every single year like clockwork, starting in November, all of you fall into this trap that says, 'I have to buy this gift... I can't show up at this party and not have something for everybody.
Quote examples
John Sandford
American Novelist
There are two worldviews in thriller writing: the paranoid view, like Chuck Logan's, that everything is inside a large clockwork. I like those books; they're intricate and thought out, but my view is that everything is chaotic and stupid. Chaos reigns, and civilized people do what they can to hold it back.
Quote examples
Michael Moore
American Activist
Ask anyone on Social Security if their check comes on time every month. Like clockwork. And it comes through the so-called dilapidated U.S. mail. My dad's check literally will come on the same day every month. The government has been quite good and efficient at creating a number of systems.
Quote examples
Walter Kirn
American Novelist
I review books as a day job, and through the years I've come to view the contemporary memoir as, almost always, a saga of victimization, sometimes by others, sometimes by the self, and sometimes by illness or misfortune, leading, like clockwork, to healing and redemption.
Quote examples
Douglas Rushkoff
American Journalist
If the clockwork universe equated the human body with the mechanics of the clock, the digital universe now equates human consciousness with the processing of the computer. We joke that things don't compute, that we need a reboot, or that our memory has been wiped.
Quote examples
Elisha Cuthbert
Canadian Actress
You're lucky enough in television to always be at it, to always be doing it. It's like you're constantly that person, always, all the time. It gets to be like clockwork.
Quote examples
Lionel Shriver
American Journalist
Perhaps scientists will eventually discover that we are all clockwork bunnies, and our experience of volition is an electro-chemical illusion.
Quote examples
Christopher Fowler
English Writer
The queen of crime, Agatha Christie, was always more concerned about the clockwork cleverness of the plot, never the investigator.
Quote examples
Daron Malakian
American Musician
There's no rule that says you have to make records constantly, like clockwork, to continue being who you are.
Quote examples
Eric Roberts
American Actor
Sometimes movie-making happens like clockwork; other times, like a car accident.
Quote examples
Suze Orman
American Author
In January we start saving money, getting out of credit card debt, funding our retirement accounts, and we're doing wonderful. Then, every single year like clockwork, starting in November, all of you fall into this trap that says, 'I have to buy this gift... I can't show up at this party and not have something for everybody.
Quote examples
John Sandford
American Novelist
There are two worldviews in thriller writing: the paranoid view, like Chuck Logan's, that everything is inside a large clockwork. I like those books; they're intricate and thought out, but my view is that everything is chaotic and stupid. Chaos reigns, and civilized people do what they can to hold it back.
Quote examples
Michael Moore
American Activist
Ask anyone on Social Security if their check comes on time every month. Like clockwork. And it comes through the so-called dilapidated U.S. mail. My dad's check literally will come on the same day every month. The government has been quite good and efficient at creating a number of systems.
Quote examples
Walter Kirn
American Novelist
I review books as a day job, and through the years I've come to view the contemporary memoir as, almost always, a saga of victimization, sometimes by others, sometimes by the self, and sometimes by illness or misfortune, leading, like clockwork, to healing and redemption.
Quote examples
Douglas Rushkoff
American Journalist
If the clockwork universe equated the human body with the mechanics of the clock, the digital universe now equates human consciousness with the processing of the computer. We joke that things don't compute, that we need a reboot, or that our memory has been wiped.
Quote examples
Elisha Cuthbert
Canadian Actress
You're lucky enough in television to always be at it, to always be doing it. It's like you're constantly that person, always, all the time. It gets to be like clockwork.
Quote examples
Lionel Shriver
American Journalist
Perhaps scientists will eventually discover that we are all clockwork bunnies, and our experience of volition is an electro-chemical illusion.
Quote examples
Christopher Fowler
English Writer
The queen of crime, Agatha Christie, was always more concerned about the clockwork cleverness of the plot, never the investigator.
Quote examples
Daron Malakian
American Musician
There's no rule that says you have to make records constantly, like clockwork, to continue being who you are.
Quote examples
Eric Roberts
American Actor
Sometimes movie-making happens like clockwork; other times, like a car accident.
Example 1 of 10
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