Synonyms

flywheel

American

[flahy-hweel, -weel] / ˈflaɪˌʰwil, -ˌwil /

noun

Machinery.

a heavy disk or wheel rotating on a shaft so that its momentum gives almost uniform rotational speed to the shaft and to all connected machinery.

flywheel British

/ ˈflaɪˌwiːl /

noun

a heavy wheel that stores kinetic energy and smooths the operation of a reciprocating engine by maintaining a constant speed of rotation over the whole cycle

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

flywheels

plural

Etymology

Origin of flywheel

First recorded in 1775–85; fly ² + wheel

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:

flywheel flywheels

This flywheel strategy that Walt Disney pioneered also evaded the risk of oversaturation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

The crown jewel, and the key to making the entire flywheel business model work, is Disney’s animation division.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

Whilst these devices are designed for longer term space missions, the recent Artemis II mission around the moon took a specially developed exercise device called the flywheel.

From BBC ● May 22, 2026

That creates a flywheel of consistent high-margin revenue that supports the dividend and the predictability of the cash flows.

From Barron's ● May 7, 2026

Harry rigged a flywheel and generator to the waterwheel that powered his sawmill, ran electrical wire into the house, and dangled lightbulbs from the rafters.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Images on social media purport to show one of the chairlift's flywheels off it's spoke.

From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2025

Just know that its serrated flywheels can be harsh on darts.

From The Verge ● Jul. 11, 2022

He wanted to see if his next flywheels could power a project with higher ideals.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 10, 2019

Excess solar energy will be stored via flywheels housed in a communal building.

From Scientific American ● Nov. 14, 2017

It grew louder, angrier, and suggested the high-velocity spin of flywheels or electric turbines turning at impossible speed.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023