driving force
The impetus, power, or energy behind something in motion, as in He was clearly the driving force in the new administration. This term transfers the force that sets in motion an engine or vehicle to other enterprises. Ralph Waldo Emerson was among the first to use it figuratively (English Traits, 1856): “The ability of its journals is the driving force.”
Words Nearby driving force
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
How to use driving force in a sentence
During the Arab Spring, social media was praised as the driving force behind a collective movement to dismantle dictatorships.
Is Twitter Trolling Making the Israel-Palestine Conflict Worse? | Emily Shire | July 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“For many years to come Diane will be a driving force at ABC News with her exceptional storytelling genius,” he added.
George Stephanopoulos Wins ABC’s Chief Anchor Crown—Where Does His Promotion Leave David Muir? | Lloyd Grove | June 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSo why reauthorize the VRA now, and why should Eric Cantor be the driving force?
Eric Cantor’s Last, Legacy-Burnishing Task: Update the VRA | Ron Christie | June 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAs Trey grew older, his hunger for a father seemed to be the driving force of his young life.
The Cost: What Stop and Frisk Does to a Young Man’s Soul | Rilla Askew | May 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe driving force behind the decrease in available beds, and thus reliable care, seems fueled entirely by money.
U.S. Prisons Becoming De Facto Home of the Mentally Ill | Abby Haglage | April 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
In that capacity for aggression upon other classes lies the essential driving force of modern affairs.
The New Machiavelli | Herbert George WellsLearning is only possible when instinct supplies the driving-force.
The Analysis of Mind | Bertrand RussellMarx found something more in the nature of a driving force in his class hostility based on expropriation and injustice.
The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind | Herbert George WellsWhat real driving force is there in all this aspiration towards a new and wider order?
The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind | Herbert George WellsNow he had lost both his abandon and his rigidity and with each, a certain driving force had been taken away from him.
Balloons | Elizabeth Bibesco
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