clockwork

American  

[klok-wurk] / ˈklɒkˌwɜrk /

noun

1. the mechanism of a clock.

2. any mechanism similar to that of a clock.

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idioms

1. like clockwork, with perfect regularity or precision.

   The launching of the spacecraft went off like clockwork.

clockwork British  

/ ˈklɒkˌwɜːk /

noun

1. the mechanism of a clock

2. any similar mechanism, as in a wind-up toy

3. with complete regularity and precision

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Etymology

Origin of clockwork

First recorded in 1620–30; clock ¹ + work

Example Sentences

At the time, she recalled how her father edited films such as Clockwork Orange in the garage.

From BBC • May 24, 2025

I spent that paycheck on a cab to and from the shooting location in a desolate area of industrial Brooklyn that inspired “A Clockwork Orange” kind of anxiety.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 22, 2023

Ms. Carlos also used the Moog to conjure the foreboding sound of a dystopian future on the soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film, “A Clockwork Orange.”

From New York Times • Dec. 16, 2022

This rebellious streak came to a head in the 1990s when a planned showing of the then banned A Clockwork Orange caused a furore and ended up with Mr Heine in court.

From BBC • Jun. 17, 2022

Clockwork, of course, was not a seventeenth-century innovation.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton