noun
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the mechanism of a clock
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any similar mechanism, as in a wind-up toy
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with complete regularity and precision
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of clockwork
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Tripling volumes, hitting annual release dates like clockwork, minimizing risky capital investments and returning more than $1 trillion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks helped Cook multiply Apple’s valuation 13 times during his tenure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Your attorney should coordinate your will, beneficiary designations, charitable gifts and executor stipulations so they all work like clockwork.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026
Only a problem now could cost him a victory and the car ran like clockwork to the end for Ferrari's first victory since Mexico 2024.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
In the vague clockwork of industry deservedness, the odds have always favored Paul Thomas Anderson.
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2026
Moonlight streamed through the window and she could see the odd shapes of the half-finished clockwork animals scattered around the room.
From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu
In these clocks, atoms are held in place by laser beams arranged in a lattice and serve as extremely precise "clockworks."
From Science Daily ● Jan. 26, 2026
When the Victorian-era clockworks began to tick in 1859, it was the largest, most accurate four-sided striking timepiece in the world.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 11, 2022
In the meantime, craftsmen from Smith Bell and Clock Service removed the clockworks, including the clock’s four faces and dials and are storing them while the case is restored.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 5, 2020
The rapid-fire labor-intensiveness of Mr. Marclay’s effort also emphasizes the laborious, collaborative nature of films — that they are themselves elaborate clockworks of actors, directors, cinematographers, set and costume designers and makeup artists.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2011
The man was built entirely out of clockworks and fine machinery.
From "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick
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.
