clockwork

[klok-wurk]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR clockwork ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the mechanism of a clock.

any mechanism similar to that of a clock.

Idioms

like clockwork, with perfect regularity or precision: The launching of the spacecraft went off like clockwork.

Origin of clockwork

First recorded in 1620–30; clock¹ + work

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for clockwork

regularity, accuracy, smoothness, consistency

Examples from the Web for clockwork

Contemporary Examples of clockwork

And, like clockwork, they came: throngs of well-dressed art collectors and dealers, socialites, and fashion folk.
Kanye West Hosts Impromptu Listening Party During Art Basel Switzerland
Isabel Wilkinson
June 13, 2013
I was channeling Jim Morrison and Malcolm McDowell from A Clockwork Orange.
Matthew McConaughey on ‘Magic Mike,’ Thongs & Losing Weight
Ramin Setoodeh
November 27, 2012
There are set pieces and costumes from 2001: A Space Odyssey, artifacts from A Clockwork Orange, and costumes from The Shining.
A Starry Night: Los Angeles Honors Stanley Kubrick
Isabel Wilkinson
October 28, 2012
Freedom is knowing the myriad moving parts of your professional life are operating like clockwork.
Your Week: What the Stars Hold
Starsky + Cox
September 4, 2011
But Belle finds a way to get back, and like clockwork, her beast transforms from hideous to hot.
12 Sexed-Up Fairy Tales
Alex Berg
March 8, 2011

Historical Examples of clockwork

His life had gradually assumed all the regularity of clockwork.
The Fat and the Thin
Emile Zola
All right, maybe it's got a clockwork fuse that didn't break with the impact.
One-Shot
James Benjamin Blish
My breath was short, and there was clockwork going in my head.
Dross
Henry Seton Merriman
Tik-tok moved by clockwork, and was made all of burnished copper.
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
L. Frank Baum
She watched them running in circles like things on wheels and moving by clockwork.
The Beach of Dreams
H. De Vere Stacpoole

British Dictionary definitions for clockwork

clockwork

noun

the mechanism of a clock

any similar mechanism, as in a wind-up toy

like clockwork with complete regularity and precision

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for clockwork

also clock-work, 1660s, "mechanism of a clock," from clock (n.1) + work (n.). Figurative sense of "anything of unvarying regularity" is recorded earlier (1620s).