like clockwork

Idioms  

1. Also, regular as clockwork. With extreme regularity, as in Ruth arrives every Wednesday morning just like clockwork, or You can count on his schedule, which is regular as clockwork, or Their assembly line runs like clockwork. This idiom alludes to the mechanical and therefore very regular action of a clock. [Second half of 1600s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

like clockwork

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

"They said they'd trained for this for 11 years... and they said, 'we never thought we'd have to do it, to practice it'. But it was like clockwork."

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

Even though the chief sniffer, The Dog is no longer here, bitter melons still appear like clockwork reminding me that home, and my own, isn’t, aren’t too far away.

From Salon ● May 9, 2026

The hard labor of spring planting and fall harvesting is followed, like clockwork, by the slower pace of summer and winter.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell