millstone
Americannoun
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either of a pair of circular stones between which grain or another substance is ground, as in a mill.
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anything that grinds or crushes.
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any heavy mental or emotional burden (often used in the phrasea millstone around one's neck ).
noun
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one of a pair of heavy flat disc-shaped stones that are rotated one against the other to grind grain
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a heavy burden, such as a responsibility or obligation
his debts were a millstone round his neck
Etymology
Origin of millstone
before 1050; Middle English milneston, Old English mylenstān. See mill 1, stone
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.
It’s not a milestone so much, though, as a millstone.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
Yet today government paperwork is an ever-weightier millstone around the public’s neck.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
“She’s reduced the price. She can’t shift this property and it’s become a bit of a millstone around her neck.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
If he did so, his quotes against divorce would be an online millstone around his neck.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2025
Chariot wheels, water wheels, potter’s wheels, millstone wheels— one can’t imagine Europe or China without them.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
